Adrastos, Diary, Film, Fog Of History, Music, Odds & Sods, Political Crack

Saturday Odds & Sods: Garden Party

This week’s featured image is a somewhat tattered postcard of the second Madison Square Garden. It was designed by the legendary architect Stanford White whose 1906 murder at MSG 2.0 was the first big scandal of the new 20th century. The second MSG was torn down in 1925 at the behest of corporate greedheads. Some things never change.

Why is MSG 2.0 the featured image? This week’s theme song, that’s why.

Rick Nelson wrote Garden Party in 1972 after performing at an oldies package show at MSG 3.0. I tried to work it into my Brand New Start post to no avail but it fits in just fine here.

We have two versions of Garden Party for your listening pleasure: the studio original by Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band followed by John Fogerty with some Eagles along for the ride.

That was delightful as is this XTC tune:

We begin our second act with a segment about a movie that was a big hit in the 1980’s.

The Gods Must Be Crazy was a low budget indie film from South Africa that captured the public’s imagination. I saw it but didn’t get the big deal: It carried more than a faint whiff of minstrelsy to me.

A young Dan Kois was among those captivated by this weird little movie. He recently revisited The Gods Must Be Crazy and wrote a swell piece about his past and present feelings about this cult movie. For the details, get thee to Slate.

The Great Manliness Flip Flop: My countryman Tom Nichols has written a tongue in cheek piece for The Atlantic in which he avers that the Democrats are now the party of old school manliness.

Dig this money quote:

In the age of Donald Trump, however, Republicans have become much of what they once claimed to see in Democrats. The reality is that elected Democratic leaders are now (to borrow from the title of a classic John Wayne movie) the quiet men, and Republicans have become full-on hysterics, screaming about voting machines and Hunter Biden and drag queens while trying to impeach Kamala Harris for … being female while on duty, or something.”

The malakatude, it burns.

The last word of our second act goes to Steve Winwood:

We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.

Separated At Birth Redux: There’s a new Beetlejuice movie in the pipeline so it’s time to revisit this pairing of high powered New Orleans lawyer Harry Rosenberg and Michael Keaton as you know who.

Harry is also back in the news. He’s one of the lawyers representing former Mayoral bodyguard and boy toy Jeffrey Vappie in his payroll fraud case. I am not making this up.

Is Vappie is best described as Latoya’s boya-toya or by the title of this Difford and Tlbrook tune?

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Your Weekly Oscar: The title of this Duke Ellington classic sums up my year thus far. Hit it, OP:

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

The Best Of Letterman: Bob Newhart’s closest show biz friend was Don Rickles. Here’s Mr. Warmth delivering a Top Ten list on a 1996 installment of The Late Show:

Rickles was an Insult Comedian without cotton candy piss hair like a certain former president.

Saturday GIF Horse: I’m still fixated on Buster Keaton. Nobody hailed a cab quite like Buster.

Buster never used a stunt double. It’s a miracle he lived until he was 70.

Tweet Of The Week: I’ve pledged my political troth to Mark Kelly as Veep but Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is a funny man:

Perry Mason and Claire Trevor are ready to kick some Shillbilly ass, y’all.

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

Saturday Closer: Let’s go full circle and end today’s party. Hit it, Nat:

That’s all for this week. The last word goes to the bridge players in Sunset Boulevard: Buster Keaton, Gloria Swanson, Anna Q. Nilsson, and H.B. Warner. They’re a pretty chatty bunch for silent movie stars.

2 thoughts on “Saturday Odds & Sods: Garden Party”

  1. Whoa! I can’t thank you enough for educating me about “The Gods Must Be Crazy.” When you brought it up, I instantly remembered it with a sense of fun and whimsy about the bemused “little Bushman” and with a bit of shame about what unfeeling idiots us “civilized” people are. And, that memory sure is the problem as the Slate article you linked to pointed out! How easily I perceived myself as the civilized one! I’ve gotten better over the years watching movies with more critical eyes, but I failed to do anything with “Gods” but laugh and move on!

  2. I was mildly befuddled by its popularity. You never can tell what the public will like.

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