MonkInTheCellar Discussion

[Dave]

That's great, Fiona! Perhaps allowing our creativity out in one medium somehow primes the pump for the next medium. I'm looking forward to more on OGH when you're ready.

[keith]

Since I was enjoying your music selection today, I started the Hollies before reading the blog episode. That was very much a "sneaked up when I wasn't looking laugh."

[keith]

Apropos of nothing in particular.

Ole thought it would be a good idea to take Lena out to dinner for their 30th anniversary so he made reservations at their favorite restaurant, Knute’s Diner in St. Cloud. When they arrived, they found that things had changed in the 10 years since their last visit. Knute’s had won the St. Cloud extreme restaurant makeover contest and was now Knute’s Diner & Comedy Lounge. On a small stage near the counter, a stand up comedian from the Twin Cities was entertaining the patrons.

The comedian was struggling. Each of his jokes was met with silence broken only by the sound of knives and forks scraping dinner plates. None of the diners would even meet his eye. In desperation he pulled out all the stops; physical comedy, stories told in funny accents, even jokes about Iowans. Nothing worked. Finally he slumped off the stage to polite applause, defeated.

As he passed Ole and Lena’s table he heard the first bit of conversation since he had been introduced. “Oh boy, Lena, I tell you. Dat fellow was so funny it was all I could do to keep from laughing right out loud.”

[Dave]

Hahahaha! Like a monks' convention. But not our monks1

[keith]

OK, I see the connection from Slip Sliding Away to Sisyphus, to Camus not so much.

To me, Camus comes across as a sophist in the modern sense of the word (and yes I recognize the absurdity of Plato's usage being the modern one).



Of course some could accuse me of taking absurdity seriously, a charge against which I would have difficulty defending.

[Dave]

I've never even heard of the Chicago song! The relation in Monk is Camus' essay on suicide, Myth of Sisyphus. You'll see in the future why I chose that reference. Hey! One of my favorite Clapton performances of Before You Accuse Me! I have it on my Ipod (or Sansa) and play it all the time. I love that slide he does in the first solo before the second 12 bars. I used the clip in LXII. Career Day. I've enjoyed some of that concert at Knebworth on Youtube, with Knopfler and Elton John. In fact, that particular show caused me to wonder if Knopfler's orange suit and Clapton's pink suit had a purpose. Maybe to tell them apart since there was no video screen. That venue is HUGE. Elton John's performance in that show of Sad Songs is my favorite version. It's one of the first songs' I worked out on my new keyboard when I got it last year. I don't do it as well as Elton, of course. Far from it! But I'm pleased with it. I matched his key (C, thankfully) and tempo (128), but I changed the beat to a sort of a shuffle.

[keith]

Which brings us to


I had 2 copies of this on vinyl but both vanished.

[Dave]

Interesting tape. One of the commenters on the YouTube site complains about the camera all but ignoring Clapton and he's right. I didn't realize who it was until I recognized his familiar gliding on the high notes. Perhaps the cameraman was a member of PETA!
Did you also watch the "making of Ulysses?" They stole the bass line from Summer In The City.
And the waa waa pedal introduction was interesting.

[keith]

Thanks for the reminder. I had meant to listen to it but it was sort of late for me when I shut down & I had child care duties from 6 AM until about a hour ago. Slipped my mind entirely.

[keith]

Re Gunsmoke:

Did I ever mention that during our daughter Katie's baptism, our son Michael was behaving in his normal fashion. Father Val offered that as long as we were there he could do an exorcism as well. Later Michael became one of Father Val's most reliable alter servers.

My brother Mike and my grandson Mikey share many personality traits with Michael.

[Dave]

Seems to run among Michaels. My younger brother is actually Michael, not Micky. In the original version of the story on my website I identify him as Jesse, but that wouldn't do on Jesse's Blog.
There is a relationship between the names Mike and Jesse in our family, since my Uncle Jesse was a Michael, named after his uncle (a common Irish custom) Mike the Ballplayer. My father got to name his third son, and he named him after I think his favorite older brother. The first two sons were named by my mother, who my father acceded to. Had he had his way with the first two of us boys, my older brother would have been named Mike and I think I would have been Billy, my father's only younger brother.

[keith]

I think Micky & Mikey have a lot in common. Heavens know Mike & Michael gave their fathers an ample quantity of grey hair.

Joan Jett was attractive & scary but do you remember when Emmylou Harris was a Cajun rocker?


When will the relationship between Jesse & the Order come to this?

[Dave]

I do like Emmy Lou with silver hair. Do you remember Cheryl Crow years ago? Here's a another TV show I'm glad I missed!




I think I was mostly elsewhere ... under some other rock .... during the tenure of Warren Zevon, but I do remember hearing the song I now realize is Werewolves of London.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MRu8N2K0NY&feature=related
[/youtube]

[keith]

I think I saw part of the first episode of Cop Rock. I had read a program description & thought it couldn't possibly be as bad as described. It was.

I see from the bug in the corner of the video that this was from a VH1 Cop Rock Marathon. I guess that means there was a second episode.

[keith]

The fire arc is one of the more thought provoking segments of Jesse's roller coaster. (OK, now I'm trying to make that image work, trying to mentally chart the story as a series of positive arcs, negative arcs, small radius turns and possible loops. There are times when I distract myself too easily.)

The video link was good in another fashion. I played the follow the link game to other videos from the same source. I particularly recommend those of the Oak Ridge Boys "Elvira" & Weird Al's "Truck Drivin' Song."