Thursday, July 03, 2008
SOMETHING FUN FOR THE FOURTH
A few years ago, my friend Shirley bought the DVD box set of the first season of Saturday Night Live. She has yet to crack it open so tomorrow evening we're going to do just that at her boyfriend Joe's house. We figured it's only right to watch the first show, in honor of George Carlin, who was the first night's host.
Despite its primitiveness, those early years of SNL were the best -- particularly music-wise. Acts got booked because the producers LIKED them, and not necessarily because they had an album out that needed to be pushed. Most acts back then were either nobodies, who desperately needed and deserved exposure; non-traditional acts, ditto; or huge stars, who didn't need the help but gave street cred to the show.
The first SNL had TWO music guests, both pretty big back in 1975: Janis Ian and Billy Preston. Ian had struggled as a folkie for years and had finally hit the charts with "At 17," and Billy Preston was, well, Billy FUCKING Preston, who'd had several hits on his own by this time, and was instantly admired by everybody for keeping the Beatles together longer than they probably should have been by literally becoming one of them (in all but name) for their last two albums. (Billy plays all the organs on the "Let it Be" and "Abbey Road" albums.)
It was a show that could make your career overnight. Leon Redbone is a case in point. His first album had sold a paltry sum before his first appearance on SNL; afterwards, you couldn't find the damn thing for months.
It could also do NOTHING for you, as Libby Titus will probably tell you if you ever meet her somewhere.
Another group who was told their lives were going to change with an appearance on SNL were the Roches. They were PERFECT for Saturday Night Live, but America didn't know what to make out of them. Years later, they wrote a song about it and made one of the best videos of the 80s, which I'd like you to watch because it's fun!
Nowadays, the only people that get booked on SNL already have a following and millions of dollars of support behind them. That sucks.
------
This is something I only tell my VERY best friends and perfect strangers on the Internet: I'm a big fan of John Phillip Sousa. Always have been. Anybody can write a march but Sousa's best (and he did write some AMAZING stinkers) are the very best.
(By the way, you are definitely doing yourself a favor by NEVER hearing anybody sing the WORDS to "Stars and Stripes Forever." Yes, there are words to that song. They are locked away forever with the lyrics to the "Star Trek" theme, "Sleepwalk" -- yes, the song you all know as Santo and Johnny's big instrumental guitar hit had WORDS -- and "I Love Lucy."
Anyway, back to Sousa. My favorite Sousa March is El Capitan. I want it played at my funeral, preferably by a really bad high school band that has never performed it before. (If not I'll settle for a record.)
Kids like these! (Actually, for middle schoolers, these kids are pretty good)
------
As a kid growing up in Indiana, I was always afraid of fireworks. I was the kid who only held a sparkler if forced, and then with the tips of my fingers, as far away from my body as possible. My cousins, who all lived across the street, had no such fears. Every July 4 I have a memory of one Independence Day when I remember watching my cousin Kevin and his friends drop round after round of lit firecrackers through the hole in a manhole cover. The NOISE! Jeezus...I can still hear it.
Then one year, we were in my back yard -- a HUGE yard, the best thing about our house in Indiana -- when somebody dropped a spent sparkler in the grass behind our garage. Thing was, the sparkler wasn't quite out yet and within a couple of minutes our garage started to catch fire. Fortunately my uncle Ed was there, and since he was a fireman at the time, he had it out in professional fashion before there was any major damage done.
Uncle Ed just passed away this year so I'll keep that memory of him, holding our garden hose like it was one of those big, thick canvas fire truck hoses, front leg bent, back leg straight and steady, like he was trying to put out the Empire State Building.
Have a great Fourth of July!
TT
A few years ago, my friend Shirley bought the DVD box set of the first season of Saturday Night Live. She has yet to crack it open so tomorrow evening we're going to do just that at her boyfriend Joe's house. We figured it's only right to watch the first show, in honor of George Carlin, who was the first night's host.
Despite its primitiveness, those early years of SNL were the best -- particularly music-wise. Acts got booked because the producers LIKED them, and not necessarily because they had an album out that needed to be pushed. Most acts back then were either nobodies, who desperately needed and deserved exposure; non-traditional acts, ditto; or huge stars, who didn't need the help but gave street cred to the show.
The first SNL had TWO music guests, both pretty big back in 1975: Janis Ian and Billy Preston. Ian had struggled as a folkie for years and had finally hit the charts with "At 17," and Billy Preston was, well, Billy FUCKING Preston, who'd had several hits on his own by this time, and was instantly admired by everybody for keeping the Beatles together longer than they probably should have been by literally becoming one of them (in all but name) for their last two albums. (Billy plays all the organs on the "Let it Be" and "Abbey Road" albums.)
It was a show that could make your career overnight. Leon Redbone is a case in point. His first album had sold a paltry sum before his first appearance on SNL; afterwards, you couldn't find the damn thing for months.
It could also do NOTHING for you, as Libby Titus will probably tell you if you ever meet her somewhere.
Another group who was told their lives were going to change with an appearance on SNL were the Roches. They were PERFECT for Saturday Night Live, but America didn't know what to make out of them. Years later, they wrote a song about it and made one of the best videos of the 80s, which I'd like you to watch because it's fun!
Nowadays, the only people that get booked on SNL already have a following and millions of dollars of support behind them. That sucks.
------
This is something I only tell my VERY best friends and perfect strangers on the Internet: I'm a big fan of John Phillip Sousa. Always have been. Anybody can write a march but Sousa's best (and he did write some AMAZING stinkers) are the very best.
(By the way, you are definitely doing yourself a favor by NEVER hearing anybody sing the WORDS to "Stars and Stripes Forever." Yes, there are words to that song. They are locked away forever with the lyrics to the "Star Trek" theme, "Sleepwalk" -- yes, the song you all know as Santo and Johnny's big instrumental guitar hit had WORDS -- and "I Love Lucy."
Anyway, back to Sousa. My favorite Sousa March is El Capitan. I want it played at my funeral, preferably by a really bad high school band that has never performed it before. (If not I'll settle for a record.)
Kids like these! (Actually, for middle schoolers, these kids are pretty good)
------
As a kid growing up in Indiana, I was always afraid of fireworks. I was the kid who only held a sparkler if forced, and then with the tips of my fingers, as far away from my body as possible. My cousins, who all lived across the street, had no such fears. Every July 4 I have a memory of one Independence Day when I remember watching my cousin Kevin and his friends drop round after round of lit firecrackers through the hole in a manhole cover. The NOISE! Jeezus...I can still hear it.
Then one year, we were in my back yard -- a HUGE yard, the best thing about our house in Indiana -- when somebody dropped a spent sparkler in the grass behind our garage. Thing was, the sparkler wasn't quite out yet and within a couple of minutes our garage started to catch fire. Fortunately my uncle Ed was there, and since he was a fireman at the time, he had it out in professional fashion before there was any major damage done.
Uncle Ed just passed away this year so I'll keep that memory of him, holding our garden hose like it was one of those big, thick canvas fire truck hoses, front leg bent, back leg straight and steady, like he was trying to put out the Empire State Building.
Have a great Fourth of July!
TT
Comments:
Happy 4th of July! And Bill and I just wanted to say that we really, really enjoyed "that song" Jean videotaped you singing recently. ;-)
Debora Kerr
Post a Comment
Debora Kerr
# posted by 
: 10:53 AM
: 10:53 AM