Winter grinds on in New Orleans. It hasn’t been bad this week but there are rumblings of a serious winter weather event on the horizon. Haven’t we had enough freak weather for a lifetime? Apparently not.
We lost power in the middle of the night the other day. It was 40 degrees and damp. Making matters worse was a neighbors’ generator, which kicked loudly into gear. We live on top of one another in the 13th Ward, so it was like riding on the B-52 in The Best Years Of Our Lives with Fredric March, Dana Andrews, and Harold Russell. Oy, just oy.
For the second consecutive week, we have a two-headed one word titled theme song to go with an Edward Hopper image. That wasn’t designed as a tongue twister, it just turned out that way.
REM’s Stand was written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe for the 1988 album, Green.
Sly & The Family Stone’s Stand was written by Sly Stone for 1969 album of that title. In a word: Outstanding.
Are you ready to rock?
Now that we’ve taken our stand, let’s move into the shadows:
We begin our second act with a piece by the Parade Route Book Signer DBA Michael Tisserand.
In Minneapolis, There Are Echoes Of Katrina is the title of Michael’s op-ed in the Picayune. Michael lived in New Orleans when the levees broke, and now he’s in Minnesota as Team MAGA tries to break the country. It’s not working.
“Yet more than rage, betrayal and blame, the clearest echo that I notice this past month is a renewal of a love of place. Often an amorphous thing, it becomes more defined in an attack, and more deeply felt. In New Orleans, we wept when John Boutté sang, “They’re trying to wash us away.” In Minnesota, we weep when we witness our fellow citizens sliding on their protest signs down a snowy hill to assemble at a rally.
Only in New Orleans, we’d say. Only in Minneapolis, we say.”
As a fellow Katrina survivor, all I have to say is keep on keeping on, sir. I’m with you in spirit.
We continue our second act by following up on my Greenland post.
The Greenland Gambit 2.0: I told you so. The media and public wasted vast amounts of time speculating about Trump’s Greenlandic intentions. I knew it was bluster and bullshit intended to distract attention from Team MAGA’s many disasters. It worked until the Kaiser of Chaos crawfished in Davos.
His words were so mangled that his Greenlandic end game remains obscure, but he admitted that there would be no invasion. I told you so.
It doesn’t matter how right-wing some of our military brass are, they respect NATO more than their bosses. If that drunken fool Hegseth thought calling the brass together to yell at them would intimidate them, he had another thing coming.
Repeat after me: The United States military will not obey an order to attack a NATO ally.
I told you so.
The last word of our second act goes to The Delfonics:
We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.
Separated At Birth Casting Edition: Last week in this segment, I used a lobby card instead of side-by-side imagery. It turned out well enough to try something even more off the wall: Sheet music.
The great Cary Grant played Cole Porter in the wildly inaccurate 1946 biopic Night and Day:
What Is This Thing Called Love is not just a rhetorical question, it’s a helluva song:
Your Basic Basie: It’s been a blue moon since my Moon Songs Dozen. It’s time for the Count to join in on the fun.
Have I told you lately how much I love Count Basie?
The Best Of SNL: This is really a two-fer as the clip features Penn & Teller’s SNL debut.
I wonder if Penn still wears that suit. Teller’s suit must have been consigned to the watery depths or some such shit. Who wants a wet suit unless you’re a diver…
Classic Movie Trailer: I just mocked a bad Cary Grant movie, here’s the preview for one of his funniest films:
Grading Time: I give Bringing Up Baby 4 stars and an Adrastos Grade of A-. It’s one of the funniest films Howard Hawks ever made and that’s saying a lot.
Saturday GIF Horse: Our Cary Grant theme continues with this image from Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House:
There’s more Cary Grant content to come tomorrow. Stay tuned for a post about The Talk Of The Town.
Skeet Shot: It’s follow up day at First Draft. In this case, my Jack Smith post. Here’s an honest reaction from former Trump voter and former cop Michael Fanone to the mendacious bullshit peddled by past malaka of the week Troy Nehls:
Nehls: I would like to quickly address the police officers from January 6th. And I can tell you that the fault does not lie with Donald Trump. It lies with the US capitol leadership team.Fanone: *Coughs: Go fuck yourself*
The MAGA malakatude, it burns.
Toon Time: Dave Granlund returns with his thoughts on the Minnesota Murder Most Foul.
Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with a music adjacent video.
Saturday Classic: San Francisco knows how to honor its musicians. Here’s how they paid tribute to Bob Weir:
RIP, Bobby. You will be missed.
That’s all for this week. The last word goes to Nancy Pelosi at the celebration of Weir’s life.
