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Pope Shield Against Sin
Well, I was supposed to see SIN CITY tonight with a friend. She was working in L.A. and had a long drive down, and I'd suggested she just stop off here rather than going home, as I'm about 40 minutes north of her. So of course, she goes all the way home and THEN calls me. I should never have given Sunday as a possibility. It's hard, because I only have every other Saturday night free, so if cancelled plans are pretty meaningful. I mean, this is the one night ever two weeks I can stay out as late as I want, you know?
I guess it's disrespectful to write, but I just don't understand the gnashing and wailing over The Pope's death. I mean, he's supposedly going to a better place, right? He was 84, right? He wasn't likely to come up with any other ways to make people miserable, right? So, job well done, R.I.P.
Watched the Illinois/Louisville and North Carolina/Michigan State games this afternoon/evening. Good stuff, though not quite as close as one might expect. They were both basically over with about six or seven minutes left. The final should be fun.
Then I watched the first disc (eps. 1-4) of The Shield. I'd always heard it was good, but didn't have F/X until recently, and ADD really recommended, it, so...Excellent cop drama, really top notch. It's not that there's anything in it you probably haven't seen in other good cop shows and movies, but hey, it works, and that kind of thing is usually based on quite a bit of research, anyway. Michael Chiklis is great, just magnetic. I feel a little bad that the one black character is both gay and religious, so he really isn't in the flow of the rest of the show right now, though.
Oh, about the rest of the Billy Joel. Well, I'll skip Disc Four, since it's just six songs and six stories about them, and concentrate on Disc Three, the Greatest Hits (1986-1997), which is all stuff after I'd written the guy off. However, there's some pretty decent middle-of-the-road pop on here. "Keeping the Faith" is interesting lyrically (somewhat unintentionally), as Joel tries to put the past in perspective but keeps returning to glorify it, anyway, with the makin' it with a redhead in a Chev-a-ra-let and all. He tells you that he found out "a man ain't just bein' macho", but not what else a man is, what that means. "An Innocent Man" is a good power ballad, while "A Matter of Trust" is another song interesting in ways not intended. It seems to be about how Joel and his woman have this unbreakable bond because they trust each other, but he sings it so stridently it's almost a warning, like she had better come clean if she's holding back something. It's got an okay riff, but it's just too stiff to really rock. "Baby Grand" is kind of a creepy duet with Ray Charles, as the song is about how you can't count on women, but your piano is always there for you. Not the easiest song to relate to, unless you substitute Spider-Man for the piano :) "Leningrad" is a well-meaning bore about glasnost and how we're all the same, Joel moving into middle-age and Sting territory. "We Didn't Start the Fire" is truly awful, just names and events rattled off with a hook that fails to tie them together. I don't know what the fire is or who was to blame for it. I don't think he even brought the song up to the present to show that the fire was still burning, as claimed. "I Go To Extremes" is Joel admitting he's an asshole, but hey, love him, anyway. That didn't work, he loses Christie, "And So It Goes"--a depressing song sun to the next woman whom Joel is allowing into his heart, knowing she'll eventually break it. "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" is, I dunno, like a Gordon Lightfoot song except turgid. "Shameless" I don't even remember. "All About Soul (Remix)"...Joel is getting stuck in the past, musically, and maybe that's why his attempts to be current result in such dated keyboard sounds. I mean, old Peter Gabriel doesn't sound that dated, you know? "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" is a sweet song to his daughter, yet I kind of felt uneasy hearing it, like it was a little too private to share, as it deal explicitly with the fact that now that Daddy divorced Mommy, he won't be around as much, but he'll never be far from his baby girl. "The River of Dreams" is a catchy pop song, not a big deal but it holds up pretty well. That was pretty much the end of Joel's career, that album, and it's somewhat notable that he fired his band and longtime producer Phil Ramone at the time. I don't really blame him, though--people and their music do grow apart, and I think many bands get stuck with some producers for too long. Anyway, to round out this third hits collection in '97, Joel recorded three covers, as he had retired from pop songwriting. "To Make You Feel My Love" is a Dylan song, a late-period one but a good one. Even as simple as Dylan's lyrics have gotten by this point, they're still better than most Joel lyrics. Joel doesn't bring much new to the table for the song, but it's fine. "Hey Girl" is an old Goffin/King song that's also hard to screw up, but a good vocal from Joel. It should be noted that these two songs were produced by Peter Asher and another guy, with lots of production and session musicians, so they're not the liveliest, but okay. "Light as the Breeze" is the last one, a Leonard Cohen song, though not one of his really gritty ones. Typically, though, it has someone on their knees. This was okay as well, an unexciting but not at all embarrassing end to a career, except that, you know, Joel didn't write any of this stuff.
Before I go for the night, brief comments on DC COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS #1. I've read a good deal of bashing of it, and even one guy saying the bashing was a waste of time, since we (the comics blogosphere) knew it would suck, anyway, and do we really think our comments will have any affect? Well, I don't see any reason NOT to say something sucks just because 100 other people have, and if it doesn't affect sales, so what? That's not why I'm doing this. AK's teardown of the book was priceless, and probably the lsat word on the book, but I'll say a couple things, anyway. Now, I don't begrudge the existence of the book--you have a big hit like IDENTITY CRISIS, you're gonna have to answer to a lot of people if you don't come up with a follow-up--and I tend to think the perceived ruining of what Giffen and DeMatteis (and Maguire) did on the "funny" incarnation of JUSTICE LEAGUE now almost 20 years ago was probably not as malicious or planned as some might think, though I could be wrong. I do think, however, that AK made a very good point about how so many people in comics seem ashamed of the fun and lightweight comics. I suspect Dan DiDio feels that, post-9/11, DC needs to reflect a harsher world in their superhero comics, and maybe this is even how he and his talent attempts to create a Stan Lee-inspired "heroes with feet of clay" model for today. I don't know if his thinking is right or wrong, actually, but it really just comes down to good comics, and this isn't good comics. You can complain about Catwoman being a prostitute in Miller's BATMAN: YEAR ONE, and Karen Page being a porn star in DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN, but these were good comics. They rose above Miller's obsessions. And let's face it, he didn't ruin the heroes for others, and never has. What I don't get about COUNTDOWN is what DC and the creators involved think they're accomplishing here beyond short-term financial gain. I mean, will this spawn a new BLUE BEETLE/BOOSTER GOLD book, or two separate ones? Yeah, probably. And that/those will last a year, maybe a little more. The villain is no one anybody cared about except as an arrogant foil before, and his defeat won't be very interesting. The franchise heroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the second-stringers like Martian Manhunter and Oracle, now look callous, unheroic, and ineffectual, and their attempts to solve this case will be mixed with a feeling of saving face to go with the heroism. They don't seem like people who know each other well or like each other, so the idea that they all know each other's secret identities has backfired due to poor writing. Batman wants nothing to do with Blue Beetle, yet he trusts him with his life, i.e. his identity. Doesn't make sense. I'm just wondering how this story will affect the DC Universe in any kind of a positive way, and wonder if DC has really thought that through.
And hey, DC, get a Static action figure made, already! My kids love the show and know more about him and his world than they do any other DC character.
I guess it's disrespectful to write, but I just don't understand the gnashing and wailing over The Pope's death. I mean, he's supposedly going to a better place, right? He was 84, right? He wasn't likely to come up with any other ways to make people miserable, right? So, job well done, R.I.P.
Watched the Illinois/Louisville and North Carolina/Michigan State games this afternoon/evening. Good stuff, though not quite as close as one might expect. They were both basically over with about six or seven minutes left. The final should be fun.
Then I watched the first disc (eps. 1-4) of The Shield. I'd always heard it was good, but didn't have F/X until recently, and ADD really recommended, it, so...Excellent cop drama, really top notch. It's not that there's anything in it you probably haven't seen in other good cop shows and movies, but hey, it works, and that kind of thing is usually based on quite a bit of research, anyway. Michael Chiklis is great, just magnetic. I feel a little bad that the one black character is both gay and religious, so he really isn't in the flow of the rest of the show right now, though.
Oh, about the rest of the Billy Joel. Well, I'll skip Disc Four, since it's just six songs and six stories about them, and concentrate on Disc Three, the Greatest Hits (1986-1997), which is all stuff after I'd written the guy off. However, there's some pretty decent middle-of-the-road pop on here. "Keeping the Faith" is interesting lyrically (somewhat unintentionally), as Joel tries to put the past in perspective but keeps returning to glorify it, anyway, with the makin' it with a redhead in a Chev-a-ra-let and all. He tells you that he found out "a man ain't just bein' macho", but not what else a man is, what that means. "An Innocent Man" is a good power ballad, while "A Matter of Trust" is another song interesting in ways not intended. It seems to be about how Joel and his woman have this unbreakable bond because they trust each other, but he sings it so stridently it's almost a warning, like she had better come clean if she's holding back something. It's got an okay riff, but it's just too stiff to really rock. "Baby Grand" is kind of a creepy duet with Ray Charles, as the song is about how you can't count on women, but your piano is always there for you. Not the easiest song to relate to, unless you substitute Spider-Man for the piano :) "Leningrad" is a well-meaning bore about glasnost and how we're all the same, Joel moving into middle-age and Sting territory. "We Didn't Start the Fire" is truly awful, just names and events rattled off with a hook that fails to tie them together. I don't know what the fire is or who was to blame for it. I don't think he even brought the song up to the present to show that the fire was still burning, as claimed. "I Go To Extremes" is Joel admitting he's an asshole, but hey, love him, anyway. That didn't work, he loses Christie, "And So It Goes"--a depressing song sun to the next woman whom Joel is allowing into his heart, knowing she'll eventually break it. "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" is, I dunno, like a Gordon Lightfoot song except turgid. "Shameless" I don't even remember. "All About Soul (Remix)"...Joel is getting stuck in the past, musically, and maybe that's why his attempts to be current result in such dated keyboard sounds. I mean, old Peter Gabriel doesn't sound that dated, you know? "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" is a sweet song to his daughter, yet I kind of felt uneasy hearing it, like it was a little too private to share, as it deal explicitly with the fact that now that Daddy divorced Mommy, he won't be around as much, but he'll never be far from his baby girl. "The River of Dreams" is a catchy pop song, not a big deal but it holds up pretty well. That was pretty much the end of Joel's career, that album, and it's somewhat notable that he fired his band and longtime producer Phil Ramone at the time. I don't really blame him, though--people and their music do grow apart, and I think many bands get stuck with some producers for too long. Anyway, to round out this third hits collection in '97, Joel recorded three covers, as he had retired from pop songwriting. "To Make You Feel My Love" is a Dylan song, a late-period one but a good one. Even as simple as Dylan's lyrics have gotten by this point, they're still better than most Joel lyrics. Joel doesn't bring much new to the table for the song, but it's fine. "Hey Girl" is an old Goffin/King song that's also hard to screw up, but a good vocal from Joel. It should be noted that these two songs were produced by Peter Asher and another guy, with lots of production and session musicians, so they're not the liveliest, but okay. "Light as the Breeze" is the last one, a Leonard Cohen song, though not one of his really gritty ones. Typically, though, it has someone on their knees. This was okay as well, an unexciting but not at all embarrassing end to a career, except that, you know, Joel didn't write any of this stuff.
Before I go for the night, brief comments on DC COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS #1. I've read a good deal of bashing of it, and even one guy saying the bashing was a waste of time, since we (the comics blogosphere) knew it would suck, anyway, and do we really think our comments will have any affect? Well, I don't see any reason NOT to say something sucks just because 100 other people have, and if it doesn't affect sales, so what? That's not why I'm doing this. AK's teardown of the book was priceless, and probably the lsat word on the book, but I'll say a couple things, anyway. Now, I don't begrudge the existence of the book--you have a big hit like IDENTITY CRISIS, you're gonna have to answer to a lot of people if you don't come up with a follow-up--and I tend to think the perceived ruining of what Giffen and DeMatteis (and Maguire) did on the "funny" incarnation of JUSTICE LEAGUE now almost 20 years ago was probably not as malicious or planned as some might think, though I could be wrong. I do think, however, that AK made a very good point about how so many people in comics seem ashamed of the fun and lightweight comics. I suspect Dan DiDio feels that, post-9/11, DC needs to reflect a harsher world in their superhero comics, and maybe this is even how he and his talent attempts to create a Stan Lee-inspired "heroes with feet of clay" model for today. I don't know if his thinking is right or wrong, actually, but it really just comes down to good comics, and this isn't good comics. You can complain about Catwoman being a prostitute in Miller's BATMAN: YEAR ONE, and Karen Page being a porn star in DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN, but these were good comics. They rose above Miller's obsessions. And let's face it, he didn't ruin the heroes for others, and never has. What I don't get about COUNTDOWN is what DC and the creators involved think they're accomplishing here beyond short-term financial gain. I mean, will this spawn a new BLUE BEETLE/BOOSTER GOLD book, or two separate ones? Yeah, probably. And that/those will last a year, maybe a little more. The villain is no one anybody cared about except as an arrogant foil before, and his defeat won't be very interesting. The franchise heroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the second-stringers like Martian Manhunter and Oracle, now look callous, unheroic, and ineffectual, and their attempts to solve this case will be mixed with a feeling of saving face to go with the heroism. They don't seem like people who know each other well or like each other, so the idea that they all know each other's secret identities has backfired due to poor writing. Batman wants nothing to do with Blue Beetle, yet he trusts him with his life, i.e. his identity. Doesn't make sense. I'm just wondering how this story will affect the DC Universe in any kind of a positive way, and wonder if DC has really thought that through.
And hey, DC, get a Static action figure made, already! My kids love the show and know more about him and his world than they do any other DC character.
Posted by ChristopherAllen at 1:53 AM [Link to this post]
3 Comments:
OK, lots of Billy Joel stuff to cover here, from a long time die-hard fan:
"I Go To Extremes" should have been the first clue that the man was an alcoholic.
"Downeaster Alexa" is a great song - a sea shanty, of sorts, with the beat on the opposite notes from where you'd expect it.
"Lullabye" was written to explain death to his then-young daughter who asked what it meant. It might work as a substitute for divorce, too, but it was meant to explain how when we die, we live on in other's memories.
"The River of Dreams" should have gotten him sued by Paul Simon and the "Graceland" group.
"Shameless" was written as a Jimi Hendrix type tune. Of course, it became even more famous as a country song when Garth Brooks covered it.
Thanks, Augie. I'll admit I gave Disc Three little more than a cursory listen before "reviewing" it. "Downeaster 'Alexa'" is good, but I'm looking forward to listening to this Decemberists disc I just downloaded, which is supposedly chockfull (boatful?) of sea shanties. Wonder if Tony Millionaire has heard them...?
Interesting on "Lullabye", thanks.
One thing I did notice in the set was that even the lightest songs like "Don't Ask Me Why" usually had a bit of darkness to them ("Every drunk must have his drink"). "She's Always A Woman" is a magic trick kind of song like R.E.M.'s "The One I Love" -- it sounds so nice most don't realize how negative it is.
I see what you mean about "The River of Dreams"--certainly Simon and Peter Gabriel helped show others how to spark up their music by infusing some rhythms and instrumentation from other cultures. Still, Joe's vocal is so much more ebullient than Simon's more conversational delivery.
"Don't Ask Me Why" works much better in concert now. It gets played with a much more pronounced Latin beat to it, almost. They don't try to hide it or "pop" the song up as much. It's pretty cool.
Bily Joel's great strength has always been his diversity. He out-Simoned Paul Simon on a song in that style with "River of Dreams." But look across his albums beyond just the greatest hits, and you'll see gospel songs, Beatles riffs, a rap son or two, reggae, Motown, Everly Brothers, Hendrix, Rascals, etc.
I think it's one of the biggest reasons he's so close to the top of my list. I like Elton John's music, too, but sometimes I swear the man is just rewriting the same dozen songs over and over again.
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