And yet More Random NotesRick LaClaireArticle Category: Local Scribes, Rick LaClaire 1 Comment
AND YET MORE RANDOM NOTES
“Capitalism is the exploitation of man by men. Communism is just the opposite.” — Nikita Khrushchev
Yes, another year has passed. they sure go fast, don’t they? It seems like only yesterday I was shaking out my leisure suit, looking for party leftovers. Nowadays I’m more likely to find a suppository wrapper. This phenomenon was best summed up by Bob Dylan. When asked how he felt when he turned the ripe old age of forty, he said, “Ya just can’t help it.” Yeah Bob, you hit the nail on the head. Time passes, and ya just can’t help it. And when time passes, people pass too. Ya just can’t help it.
Now I could begin this new year loudly lamenting the passage of Steve Jobs or Elizabeth Taylor — people with bigger-than-life fame. Or I could do what I usually do, which is doting on the unsung and less significant. the rich and famous get their lion’s share of attention, so I think it’s only fair to elevate the quickly-forgotten. in some ways they’ve affected me more than their much-lauded contemporaries. for instance, Steve Jobs never entertained me for one minute when I was a teenager, but in half-hour increments, Sherwood Schwartz sure did.
Remember “Gilligan’s Island” and “the Brady Bunch”? Yeah, the shows are corny today, but back in ’65 I never missed an episode of “Gilligan.” part of it had to do with the fact that we only got two channels on the ol’ black and white Zenith (and one channel was Canadian), but you just never knew; maybe this would be the episode when they get rescued. of course, we didn’t want them to get rescued. There would be no show — and worse, we’d be relegated to watching the curling playoffs in Saskatoon. “Gilligan” was pulled after the ’67 season and it wouldn’t be until ’69 that my attention was captured by the Bradys. It was from that family I learned which paisley shirt pattern best matched my striped pants. six kids, two parents, a housekeeper and only one toilet? Except for the live-in maid and the gay dad, that sounded like home to me. you know, after watching over my kids’ shoulders as they indulge in their so-called “reality” TV, I find watching “Brady Bunch” re-runs refreshing. They’re still in daily rotation on one of the religious cable stations.
Schwartz laid some eggs, too. do you recall “It’s About Time” and “Harper Valley PTA”? I didn’t think so, but everyone remembers “my Favorite Martian.” Schwartz had his hand in there, too. the talents of Sherwood Schwartz, to me, fueled what I call the Aluminum Age in TV. Television’s Golden Age was the Fifties. I call the Sixties the Aluminum Age because that was what the ol’ black and white Zenith’s body was made of: anodized aluminum. Mr. Schwartz died last July. he was 94.
Thirty some-odd years ago I was graced with the gift of a “licorice pizza,” which some will recognize as a vinyl LP, by one of my favorite D.C. blues bands, the Nighthawks. the band has had a variety of lineups over the years (including Brevard’s own Danny Morris) and this album, Jacks and Kings, featured one Pinetop Perkins. “Pinetop,” for those who don’t know, was a brand of cheap rotgut whiskey which circulated among the troops on both sides during our War between the States, so named for the pungent pine dowel used as a cork. I don’t know if that has any bearing on Mr. Perkins’s moniker, but man, could that guy roll on the piano.
My favorite cut has always been “Pinetop’s Boogie-Woogie,” a “funny little song” in which he extols the listener to “hold it,” then “get it” and boogie. This song rocks. It’s fun to dance to as well as play, and I’ve tried forever and ever to get that Pinetop piano roll down and can’t quite “get it.” His real name was Joe Willie Perkins and he died last March at age 97.
Another loss in March was Geraldine Ferraro. Remember her? If not, remember Walter Mondale? well, in case you don’t, Walter Mondale ran for president in 1984 and I (and two other people) voted for him. in retrospect I don’t know why I did that, but I do remember he was the first nominee to run with a woman as his vice-president. no, he didn’t make it, and I always thought he had a sex change shortly afterward and became Madeline Albright, but that’s just a rumor. Anyway, in 1984, it took a lot of guts to bust into Reagan-era politics with a woman in tow. And it took a lot more guts to be that woman. of course the Republicans took her apart piece-by-piece and in the end, well, you know what happened. Four more years of the Gipper — or “the Gypper,” depending on which social stratum you occupied. Geraldine Ferraro was 75.
Has there ever been a more distinctive singing voice than Phoebe Snow’s? you could recognize her in a heartbeat. the first time I heard her was in college, when my then-housemate Sam bought the still Crazy album by Paul Simon. Simon was always infusing new sounds and Phoebe certainly filled the bill. despite legal hassles with her labels, she was much in demand and recorded with the likes of Lou Rawls, Garland Jeffreys, Billy Joel and Queen, among many others. She suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 2010 and never fully recovered. Born Phoebe Ann Laub, she died in April at age 60.
When someone called “Doctor Death” meets his demise, do you celebrate, mourn, or what? Also known as “Jack the Dripper,” his goal was “death with dignity,” and as I grow older and nearer my own time I find myself agreeing more and more with his philosophy. he was not a wanton killer. yes, his methods were said to defy the then-current moral standards, but did they really? Abortion had been legal for decades. you could kill your defenseless fetal offspring, but not willingly take your own declining life? Kevorkian said it was okay to do that and put his own butt on the line. His goal, he said, was not to kill people, but to end their suffering. he went to jail. After release from prison in 2007, he devoted his life to lecturing and running for Congress. he was also an artist who sometimes painted with his own blood. I find that just a bit weird. he died in June.
Chester, Festus, Miz Kitty, Doc… what do those names conjure? “Gunsmoke”! It is said that the Wild West only lasted seventeen years, but Gunsmoke lasted twenty. There’s something to be said for a TV show that can re-write history. of course the glue that held the Gunsmoke gang together was Marshall Matt Dillon, also known as James Arness. Born James Aurness and father of 1970 world-champion surfer Rolf Aurness, he was 88 when he died in June.
Clarence “Big Man” Clemons, Jerry Lieber… the arts took a beating in 2011. I was never a fan of Bruce Springsteen, but who could resist that signature sax style of Clarence Clemons? And remember hearing “Jailhouse Rock” for the first time? I was only five then, and ten years later I covered the very same song with my high school rock combo. someone told me Big Mama Thornton wrote that song, but no, it was a couple of white guys from Baltimore called Jerry Leiber and Jeff Stoller. Clarence Clemons died in June, Jerry Leiber in August.
Finally, does the name Lana Peters ring a bell? perhaps you would know her better by her birth name, Svetlana Stalina. yes folks, she was the daughter of that fun-loving, devil-may-care, madcap despot known as Josef Stalin. now why would the only daughter of the leader of the not-so-free world want to defect to the land of hot dogs and Playboy magazine? well, why not? Nikita Khrushchev, one of Stalin’s homies, once said he witnessed the “man of steel” grab Svetlana’s mother by the hair and drag her to the dance floor (it’s rumored alcohol was a factor). I hope it was a good song. Obviously, Svetlana had daddy issues, and a few years after his death she defected to America where she took the name Lana Peters. Hounded by reporters and paparazzi all her days here, she desperately sought privacy, winding up back in Russia for a short time in the ’80s. She died in Wisconsin at age 85.
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