Summer has arrived. We had our first day with a high of 90 degrees. There will be more to come. What can ya do?
The big local news is the death of the Crawfish King Al Scramuzza at the age of 97. He’s widely considered responsible for popularizing mudbugs in New Orleans. He was also the auteur of a series of campy and self-produced TV commercials:
Al closed Seafood City in 1993, so I missed his heyday as the Crawfish King. BUT I met him on several occasions and enjoyed his company. He was a kind and funny man. He even ran for the lege in 1983. He lost despite this slogan: “Vote for Al Scramuzza and you’ll never be a loser.”
Al was certainly a winner in the seafood game.
This week’s featured image was inspired by my Creole Pope post of all things. Like Pope Bob, Edgar Degas had Black Creole relations. Degas did some good work in his brief time in New Orleans, but I opted for a more characteristic painting. That, in turn, inspired this week’s theme song.
Ronnie Lane and Ron Wood wrote Ooh La La for the 1973 Faces album of the same name. Lane was perhaps the most lovable British rock star of all. Unlike the Crawfish King, he died young at the age of 51.
I had a stage door encounter with Ronnie after having the Faces experience. It was one of the best sets I’ve ever seen. I attended with a group of friends, one of whom had a raging crush on Rod Stewart. The lead singer was abrupt with her, but Ronnie paused and chatted with our group. I think he was used to cleaning up Rod’s messes. Thank you, sir.
We have two versions of Ooh La La for your listening pleasure: the Faces studio OG followed by Ronnie Lane & Slim Chance live:
The Ooh La La variations continue with this song written by Dave Bartholomew:
Let’s say Ooh La La one more time with this Cole Porter tune performed by Blossom Dearie.
We move from songs about the Can-Can and such to take a deep dive into the criminal world.
True Crime From The Inside: True crime shows are one of my guilty pleasures. John J Lennon is a convicted murderer turned writer who was the subject of an episode of Inside Evil. I have not seen it; Lennon was not amused by how he was portrayed. It led him to take a closer look at the experiences of others who were true crime subjects.
It’s a helluva piece but it didn’t end my interest in true crime TV; I can’t help it, I practiced criminal law. Lennon’s article did make me feel guiltier for indulging in my true crime habit. In the immortal words of Boz Scaggs:
For the grisly details get thee to Vulture.
We’ll let David Bowie sing us out of the segment:
We’re All Living In A Carl Hiaasen Novel is a terrific profile of the demigod of satirical crime fiction by Amy Weiss-Meyer in The Atlantic. Hiaasen’s work has taken a more political turn since the fake Florida Man was first elected president. Hiaasen is vexed by readers who are horrified that he speaks ill of the Insult Comedian:
“After Squeeze Me, people started leaving angry comments on Hiaasen’s Amazon page. “I’d like a REFUND!” one reviewer wrote, citing disappointment with “page after page of vitriolic and vituperative character assassination of DJT.” “Fiction should be escape, not an in your face political hit-job,” another person wrote. They felt betrayed—why did this author they used to turn to for a good laugh insist on mocking Donald Trump?
Hiaasen found this response amusing, but it also confused him. “All I could think was, Had they not read anything I’d ever written before? How in the world could you be shocked?” His work, he said, has always been political.”
And he’s always been pro-environment and anti-corruption. How could he possibly be a MAGA maggot?
I tried to share this article as a gift. If it didn’t work, please let me know. Here’s the link again.
The last word of our second act goes to Warren Zevon with a song he co-wrote with Hiaasen. It also provided the title for a 2002 novel by Carl.
We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.
Separated At Birth Casting Edition: All this crime chatter made me think of the notorious Boston hoodlum and jailhouse Trumper, Whitey Bulger. That evil fucker was played by Johnny Depp in the 2015 film, Black Mass.
How about some Steely Dan to wash away the nasty aftertaste of that image? Becker and Fagen are always good for what ails you.
Your Weekly Oscar: This week, an OP composition from one of his albums with fellow jazz piano god Count Basie.
Have I told you lately how much I love Oscar Peterson?
The Best Of Johnny: In addition to being a brilliant comedic actress, Betty White was an animal lover. This clip shows the time she brought one of her larger friends on The Tonight Show.
Saturday GIF Horse: I still have gangsters on my fucking mind. Here’s Al Fucking Pacino in Scarface.
Fuck yeah, Tony.
Classic Film Trailer: Brian DePalma’s remake of Howard Hawks’ Scarface is better known than the original. But the OG was dynamite. Its overt violence made it one of the films that led to the production code. Paul Muni, however, never said fuck in this fucking film.
Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.
Saturday Closer: Still craving crawfish? Here’s an instructional video from The Radiators:
I never suck the head. I’m strictly a tail squeezer.
That’s all for this week. The last word goes to Crawfish King Al Scramuzza:
