The terrorist attack on my city has thrown me for a loop. It messed up my writing plans for this week, but I’m muddling through, making choices on the fly. We’ll see how it works out today.
This is the second time since I moved here in 1987 that New Orleans has made history. The first, of course, was in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina and the Federal Flood. It’s not the sort of history I want to make. I could have done without either the attack or flood, but we’re still standing. If anything, the Mayor in 2005 C Ray Nagin made Mayor Teedy look competent, which isn’t easy. We got through that. We’ll get through this. I’m not sure, however, if I can get through a revival of the dread R word:
K20 looms, y’all. A reminder that friends don’t let friends use the R word.
The featured image is a vintage postcard of Canal Street in 1948. The attack commenced at the corner of Canal and Bourbon, which is an intersection that anyone who has ever visited or lived in New Orleans has been. It has a new claim to fame, alas.
I typically plan ahead for this feature. I chose Takin’ It To The Streets as the theme song last week under the sway of HBO’s Yacht Rock documentary. I decided to leave it in place. It’s a cheerful tune and we all could use some cheering up, which is the same reasoning I used for yesterday’s FCH.
Michael McDonald wrote this week’s theme song as the title track for the Doobie Brothers’ 1976 album Takin’ It To The Streets. It was yet another hit single for the fine band with a dumb name.
We have three versions of Takin’ It To The Streets for your listening pleasure: The Doobie Brothers studio original, the Dukes of September live, and Quincy Jones with Gwen Guthrie and Luther Vandross.
The alert listener will notice that McDonald threw a Paul Simon tune into the intro in the version by the Dukes. The title is a phrase I’ve used many times as a blogger:
Our second act takes a look back at 2024.
Dave Barry’s Year In Review: Bad times are good for satire as Dave Barry proves annually.
Hail and Farewell: Nobody salutes the dearly departed better than CBS Sunday Morning:
The last word of our second act goes to Midnight Oil with a song about the Great War:
2024 is best forgotten as well. It wasn’t as bad as 1914, but it was truly dreadful.
We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.
Separated At Birth: Dr. A and I saw Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on New Year’s Day in an attempt to counteract the effects of the terrorist attack at the corner of Canal and Bourbon. The movie is 2 1/2 stars mediocre but it gave me an excuse to post this classic pairing of Michael Keaton and New Orleans lawyer Harry Rosenberg:
I’ll let Neutral Milk Hotel play us out of this segment:
Your Weekly Oscar: OP was a great admirer of Frank Sinatra. I’m an admirer of both musicians. Here’s a doubleheader featuring Oscar and Francis Albert:
OP also played with Count Basie. I should have dropped his name too. Instead, I’ll drop a song the two piano titans wrote together:
Have I told you lately how much I love Oscar Peterson? That goes for Jersey Boys Frank Sinatra and Bill Basie as well.
Classic Movie Trailer: The Maltese Falcon is arguably the first film noir. It’s certainly my favorite Bogart-Huston movie.
Saturday GIF Horse: I’ve been watching Peter Gunn on Amazon Prime. I love it, especially the chemistry between Craig Stevens and Lois Albright as his long suffering jazz singer sweetie Edie.
I just learned that Herbie Hancock and Quincy Jones recorded a version of Henry Mancini’s classic theme song. This is it:
The Doobie Brothers On What’s Happening: I mentioned it yesterday. Here’s the evidence.
Let’s close this virtual honky tonk with some more music.
Saturday Closer: Jazz Casual was a show produced by public station KQED in my other hometown of San Francisco. It was hosted by Rolling Stone co-founder and superstar jazz critic Ralph J. Gleason. This entry features the great Mel Tormé. Say no more.
That’s all for this week. The last word goes to The Doobie Brothers on What’s Happening. Rerun also attended.
