Thick As A Rock
I don't know how they get me to do these things:
I would likely be remiss were I to omit the fact that Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, whose Fallon and SNL appearances are referenced in this videoclip, was a "Third Rock From The Sun" cast member, which starred John Lithgow, whose sister SJ was my best friend's girlfriend when I was in the 9th grade in Princeton, New Jersey (before Lithgow was an actor, though I knew of him as SJ never stopped going on about her brother).
Monday's On The Phone To Sunday
Someone definitely wanted me to think I was seeing Eric Clapton on my way to work Monday, November 30th. It might even have been Clapton, though one doesn't think of him as someone who would wear a cowboy hat. The siting was timed with my return from vacation (visiting with my sister's family in Texas), and it was while on vacation that I spoke with the one person I know who knows the "Clapton girl" I knew at CalArts, as referenced in my April 18, 2009 blog.
That Reminds Me
I don't know whether or not Paul McCartney, who frequently does things apropos of what I do, and Billy Joel, who sat next to me on a plane in 1978 right before I received a letter from McCartney, appeared together in a broadcast Thanksgiving night 2009 in order to make me think of the time I saw Lennon perform with Elton John at the Garden Thanksgiving night 1974 (Lennon's last concert appearance, a surprise appearance I had predicted, which was what prompted me to attend in the first place - this was a month after I had worked for close Lennon friend Howard Smith, his NYC guide as well).
Showing posts with label Billy Joel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Billy Joel. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Friday, October 17, 2008
I Now Pronounce This Ring Open
On October 1st my blog asked that Paul McCartney and Denny Laine (McCartney’s main musical collaborator after John Lennon) reunite for Billy Joel's and Bruce Springsteen’s concert for Obama on October 16th, which was to be (and was) attended by Obama. The day following my blog, October 2nd, the “What Goes On” Beatles website carried an article about an October 11th Denny Laine concert. That article offered several email addresses that might easily lead to Denny Laine, and so, being handed this the day after my Denny Laine blog, I emailed several people, under the Subject line, “Laine Help In A Specific Way,” a paraphrase of the line from the title song of the Beatles movie, “Help”: “I never needed anybody’s Help In Any Way.”
At the October 16th Billy Joel/Bruce Springsteen concert for Obama, according to an Associated Press article, Laine and McCartney did not appear. The article did not state this specifically, however, we will assume that it would have mentioned this had it occurred. Okay, I can see that.
What the article also did was to mention the fact that Billy Joel played the title song from the Beatles movie, “A Hard Days Night”. The Beatles have created a substantial number of songs. I therefore find it noteworthy that from all of the Beatles material to draw from (or not), I referred to the title song of one of the two Beatles movies in my efforts to make something happen at that October 16th concert, and the title song from the other Beatles movie was in actuality performed at that same concert.
This is far from the first time I had an influence on Billy Joel, who once sat next to me on an airplane in 1978, several weeks before Paul McCartney sent me a letter, which was several weeks before I graduated from CalArts.
Changing the subject, but remaining on a related topic, some may have noticed that my September 28th blog announced a new Saturday Night Live sketch idea of mine, “Peek-A-Boo, ICU”, including a link to where one could read it. This is also evidence of when I wrote it, because archive.org indicates, in a non-transmutable way, the date when things are posted there. My sketch was about the then upcoming presidential debate hosted by Tom Brokaw, and more specifically, about people’s views being blocked. In the actual debate, McCain’s actual blocking of Brokaw’s actual view became the actual source of much actual humor. Nor was this the first time McCain helped himself to my material, his last appearance on The Daily Show being another example. Are you ready to consider that it was deliberate when McCain blocked Brokaw's view? Okay, well I can appreciate how difficult it must be to accept the idea that at times my influence, at least on a certain, secret track, should be as powerful as, say, Paul McCartney’s. As for me, I've been seeing the extent of my influence in an unobstructed way for most of my life.
At the October 16th Billy Joel/Bruce Springsteen concert for Obama, according to an Associated Press article, Laine and McCartney did not appear. The article did not state this specifically, however, we will assume that it would have mentioned this had it occurred. Okay, I can see that.
What the article also did was to mention the fact that Billy Joel played the title song from the Beatles movie, “A Hard Days Night”. The Beatles have created a substantial number of songs. I therefore find it noteworthy that from all of the Beatles material to draw from (or not), I referred to the title song of one of the two Beatles movies in my efforts to make something happen at that October 16th concert, and the title song from the other Beatles movie was in actuality performed at that same concert.
This is far from the first time I had an influence on Billy Joel, who once sat next to me on an airplane in 1978, several weeks before Paul McCartney sent me a letter, which was several weeks before I graduated from CalArts.
Changing the subject, but remaining on a related topic, some may have noticed that my September 28th blog announced a new Saturday Night Live sketch idea of mine, “Peek-A-Boo, ICU”, including a link to where one could read it. This is also evidence of when I wrote it, because archive.org indicates, in a non-transmutable way, the date when things are posted there. My sketch was about the then upcoming presidential debate hosted by Tom Brokaw, and more specifically, about people’s views being blocked. In the actual debate, McCain’s actual blocking of Brokaw’s actual view became the actual source of much actual humor. Nor was this the first time McCain helped himself to my material, his last appearance on The Daily Show being another example. Are you ready to consider that it was deliberate when McCain blocked Brokaw's view? Okay, well I can appreciate how difficult it must be to accept the idea that at times my influence, at least on a certain, secret track, should be as powerful as, say, Paul McCartney’s. As for me, I've been seeing the extent of my influence in an unobstructed way for most of my life.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Paul McCartney and Denny Laine: Give Barrack Obama Your Vote
Let’s suppose that those who have been keeping an intelligent, careful eye on American politics would not be completely convinced by the current polls, which at present indicate that the election is Barrack Obama’s. Things continue to change at the drop of a hat, in spite of each new configuration of the way America “feels” being initially perceived as written in stone. And so, let us suppose that, just as a McCain presidency would place Palin dangerously close to the highest office in the land, perhaps the world, so McCain is dangerously close to winning the presidency. To sit back with the sense that nothing need be done about this, were one in a position to do something, might therefore be the highest form of irresponsibility.
In 1975-76, Paul McCartney and Denny Laine did a song called, “Must Do Something About It,” which was based on a communication I had sent to Paul McCartney at a time when, like now, I was of significance to Paul McCartney. My communication immediately followed a McCartney radio interview, in which he said that on his upcoming concert tour he was likely to do his songs note perfect to the version heard on the recordings, as that’s what the people wanted. My communication stated that it (the communication) should be regarded as my vote, that it would be more real if he felt at liberty to change the notes, and that if he should ever wish to visit my school, CalArts, I would be delighted to show him around (i.e., “hold your coat”).
When one considers that Denny Laine became Paul McCartney’s main musical collaborator following John Lennon, it seems something of a contrast to, in any manner, juxtapose that song’s “must do something about it…. or not” persona within proximity of Lennon’s “I sure as hell will do something about stuff” outward persona.
And that brings us to the stage that has now been set. Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel (who sat next to me on an airplane Easter Sunday 1978, the year the Pope would have wanted to be sitting next Billy Joel, owing to his recent hit about a Catholic girl hiding behind a stained glass curtain counting on her rosary; Easter Sunday 1978, three weeks before I received a letter from Paul McCartney regarding my upcoming graduation from film school; Easter Sunday 1978, six weeks before Rolling Stone Magazine’s June Random Notes piece about Lennon considering a part in a movie called “Street Messiah”, which I followed up on, and might have succeeded in working on had it ever been made) will be performing for Obama on October 16th, with surprise guests.
There is a great, wise expression: “It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it.” I would not want McCartney publicly supporting Obama if it were to be done clumsily, in a run of the mill fashion, as a typical celebrity endorsement, or tainted by seeming like an upstaging, or as something pointedly alienating to anyone not of like mind. But what I would love to see would be if McCartney could find a good way to fuse a Beatle-like feeling (from when they suggested the group persona of a social movement) together with the kind of support for Obama that is like being part of the rising spirit of a new social movement.
The suggestion I would like to make, as simple as it may sound, would accomplish a lot, in addition to meeting the only real criteria – it feels “right”: I would like to suggest a reunion of Paul McCartney and Denny Laine as part of the Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen Obama event. It would provide the perfect proximity to present times for the “ghost” of John Lennon’s activist spirit; it would contain the promise of musical chemistry yet unexplored; it is the right time, as Denny Laine’s new book about Paul McCartney could be seen as implying that their famous relationship could now finally be in the right place for such a musical reunion.
Obviously, I am far outside of the real inner issues McCartney and Laine would have to address in making such a decision. So: let this opinion of mine just be seen as.... one vote.
In 1975-76, Paul McCartney and Denny Laine did a song called, “Must Do Something About It,” which was based on a communication I had sent to Paul McCartney at a time when, like now, I was of significance to Paul McCartney. My communication immediately followed a McCartney radio interview, in which he said that on his upcoming concert tour he was likely to do his songs note perfect to the version heard on the recordings, as that’s what the people wanted. My communication stated that it (the communication) should be regarded as my vote, that it would be more real if he felt at liberty to change the notes, and that if he should ever wish to visit my school, CalArts, I would be delighted to show him around (i.e., “hold your coat”).
When one considers that Denny Laine became Paul McCartney’s main musical collaborator following John Lennon, it seems something of a contrast to, in any manner, juxtapose that song’s “must do something about it…. or not” persona within proximity of Lennon’s “I sure as hell will do something about stuff” outward persona.
And that brings us to the stage that has now been set. Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel (who sat next to me on an airplane Easter Sunday 1978, the year the Pope would have wanted to be sitting next Billy Joel, owing to his recent hit about a Catholic girl hiding behind a stained glass curtain counting on her rosary; Easter Sunday 1978, three weeks before I received a letter from Paul McCartney regarding my upcoming graduation from film school; Easter Sunday 1978, six weeks before Rolling Stone Magazine’s June Random Notes piece about Lennon considering a part in a movie called “Street Messiah”, which I followed up on, and might have succeeded in working on had it ever been made) will be performing for Obama on October 16th, with surprise guests.
There is a great, wise expression: “It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it.” I would not want McCartney publicly supporting Obama if it were to be done clumsily, in a run of the mill fashion, as a typical celebrity endorsement, or tainted by seeming like an upstaging, or as something pointedly alienating to anyone not of like mind. But what I would love to see would be if McCartney could find a good way to fuse a Beatle-like feeling (from when they suggested the group persona of a social movement) together with the kind of support for Obama that is like being part of the rising spirit of a new social movement.
The suggestion I would like to make, as simple as it may sound, would accomplish a lot, in addition to meeting the only real criteria – it feels “right”: I would like to suggest a reunion of Paul McCartney and Denny Laine as part of the Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen Obama event. It would provide the perfect proximity to present times for the “ghost” of John Lennon’s activist spirit; it would contain the promise of musical chemistry yet unexplored; it is the right time, as Denny Laine’s new book about Paul McCartney could be seen as implying that their famous relationship could now finally be in the right place for such a musical reunion.
Obviously, I am far outside of the real inner issues McCartney and Laine would have to address in making such a decision. So: let this opinion of mine just be seen as.... one vote.
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