Witching At Lughnasa

Better late than never, as they say. Who says? I don’t know. “They.” When I was in college I read a book called “They Died With Their Boots On,” about famous gunfights of the Old West, and my roommate and I started a shelf in our room where we kept stuff that reminded us of things “they” said. The unspecified “they.” I don’t remember much of what was on it- there was an ashtray, because “they say smoking will kill ya”- stuff like that- but I do remember that both of us found it hilarious. And you know what? It was.

 Here are a few of the things that came up in this episode:

I talked about The 100 Foot Wave on HBO. Here’s a clip of Garrett McNamara surfing a 90-footer. And you can see the lighthouse I mentioned in Nazare, and how the surf is RIGHT THERE. I wanna go. You?

I’ve been lucky enough, on numerous occasions, to see some really great bands in unexpectedly amazing venues. Like, it’s one thing to see David Bowie at the Meadowlands, but very different to see Ben Folds at the Bowery Ballroom. (If nothing else check out the section at about 1:12:15 where he assigns horn and sax parts to the audience- so fun!) But I think nothing compares to watching Lauren Hill (I don’t think, in retrospect, it was all the Fugees) do a sound check behind a jewelry store in Beverly Hills. The concert itself was cool too, but there’s something about being there ahead of time...

Anyway, here is Ms. Hill at Chapelle’s block party. It was like this, only way smaller. Apparently, she is planning to go on tour soon. Getcher tickets.

Until I started looking I didn’t realize that Dancing at Lughnasa wasn’t just a play, it was also a movie. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a play. But of course it was turned into a moving picture, and of course Meryl Streep is in it doing a slightly different version of her Sophie’s Choice accent.

Also in that movie? The incomparable Rhys Ifans,  which I only mention because it’s an excuse for me to plug this really fun show that nobody but me saw.  Stellar cast all the way down the line, but I think his part is my favorite.

And finally, Hans Landa just eats up the screen every time he’s on. So I will say this is one of my favorite Hans Landa scenes, but also they’re ALL my favorite Hans Landa scenes.

See you next time

“Norman Lear, Dressage, And Parking Too Close To The Drivers' Side Door”

I took a couple of notes on this week’s episode. Here they are:

David Cronenberg and William Burroughs invite you to lunch.

(I never saw it, but I did sit across the aisle from Peter Weller on a JetBlue flight from LA once).

They love the nightlife. They got to boogie on the disco round.

As partners, no riding. THat’s more like it.

Even Norman Lear didn’t get everything right every time, but they gave him three chances to do the pilot for All In The Family. Here’s Jean Stapleton talking about making those three versions of the pilot, and why. 

I wonder why this version of the pilot didn’t get picked up? I wonder who Archie would support politically nowadays? Hilarious! 

I walked by the place I faceplanted in the street last night. The crack is not just a crack, it’s like a ditch. Made me feel a little better, less like I was at fault. It was dark and I didn’t see the ditch. Still, too bad nobody filmed it. Maybe I’m just mean and a bad person, but those always make me laugh. Except the ones I can literally feel as I’m watching.

I’ll have to go by the Apple Pan sometime soon to see if these people managed to make it through the pandemic. What a nightmare.

And finally, I know there’s a Johnny Cash version, which just proves that even he wasn’t always right. Cuz you can never have enough Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Feel free to add stuff in the comments, as always (almost never).

Til we meet again,