10. The world is just not cool--it's too smooth and conventional, not appealingly rough enough--without Tina Turner, who left us May 24. In 1984, ABC News included Tina in a feature segment, just before the huge success of Private Dancer and its unlikely hit single, "What's Love Got to Do with It." At the time, she was down on her luck--album sales since starting a solo career were not impressive--and there was a feeling in the news piece that her comeback might never materialize. How wrong we all were. Thank you for all the fabulous recordings, Tina.
9. Gordon Lightfoot's (1938-2023) death on May 4 brought along an unusual coincidence. Just before I got the news, Gina and I were watching the 2021 film The Good House, starring Segourney Weaver and Kevin Kline. Weaver's first rate portrayal of an alcoholic hits some raw nerves but there were plenty of light moments as well. The best one was where she and ex-husband (played by David Rasche) attended a family party. A guitar was produced and it looked like the ex-spouses were going to sing a duet. Rasche's character looks at Weaver's and asks, "Lightfoot?" She nodded and they sang "For Lovin' Me" together. I hadn't thought about Gordon Lightfoot in quite awhile but there it was--and in another hour I eerily learned about his passing. This may not have been a coincidence (it may have been taped after May 4), but in the final episode of Fubar, Arnold Schwarzengger's series about a man and his daughter (played by Monica Barbaro) working the same CIA operation at the same time, one character starts singing Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" and the other agents join in. I'd never watch an "action" show like Fubar if it lacked humor and pathos, but those elements roar throughout, and the group song is just one reason why.
8. Skip this one if you don't appreciate baseball: I love it when an announcer says that the home team, hitting for the first time in the bottom of the first inning, is "coming to bat." We have too many media folks who say the home team is "coming up." One can say that a team is "coming up" at almost any time in the game; the "coming to bat" signifies that they haven't hit yet. It's also a more accurate way to say that the visiting team has a concrete number of runs or none at all after the top half of the inning but that the home team's total is still to be determined because they are "coming to bat." Meanwhile, the Seattle Mariners are playing so poorly at this moment that one of my pals says they should be nenamed the Washington Generals, the team that the Harlem Globetrotters takes on the road with them...and obliterates every night.
7. Some potty humor? I work with about 25 people a day and we have a single staff restroom, so I'd never use it for anything but going number one. Anything that's more dangerously fragrant takes place in the public restroom; I'd never stink up our staff room, for how embarrassing that would be! It's annoying to be sitting in a public stall and someone tries to come in--of course I've locked the door. I want to ask, "didn't someone teach you to look for shoes at the bottom of the door?" A comment like that and I'd have the crap beaten out of me. Another time, I was sitting in the stall and a guy outside the door asked me if I'd seen his cigarettes, which he thought he'd left behind. I said no--he didn't believe me. He exited, agitated.
6. Our granddaughter will be five years old in a few months and she has astounded us with her wit and vocabulary. As you might know, Gina's last name is Vitale and she's been studying Italian for several years. Our granddaughter asked Gina if she spoke "Vitalian." But the best one is this: she was working on an art project while the grownups were talking about a situation we thought was "hilarious." Without stopping her art project, our granddaughter said, "hilarious: that's another word for funny."
5. Elton John Fans Rejoice: You might know a great cut from 1971's Tumbleweed Connection titled "Amoreena." Well, I now work with an Amoreena and asked her if she was named after the Elton John song. Yes, she was.
4. Kitchen Rules: We have a pretty good arrangement for meals at the Syrja-Vitale house; my wife cooks and I clean up, although there's a bit of sharing where the food chores are concerned. For me, I can't simply load a dishwasher full of food stained plates; I worry about a clog in the dishwasher drainage system. Additionally, we have a few plates with beautiful artwork that might fade in the dishwasher, so I wash them by hand. When I occasionally break a plate, it's not because I've dropped it. Rather, when shaking the water off it, I might chip a bit of the plate on the sink's porcelain sides. For being a drummer, I have no coordination.
3. Parents who give a suggestion or warning to their children never get an answer back when they end the sentence with this: "okay?"
2. I'm reading Greil Marcus' 2014 book The History of Rock'n'Roll In Ten Songs and enjoying it immensely. How on earth could ten tunes encompass the entire history of rock'n'roll? Well, it's because discussing one tune leads to another. My favorite chapter is on Buddy Holly's "Crying, Waiting, Hoping," which begat the Beatles' cover and many more twists.
1. I've drowned myself in oldies radio over the last few years. There are a select few oldies that I won't turn off when I'm driving as they appear serendipitously; a large part of the thrill is the surprise of hearing something not played so often. Airplay overkill has caused even monumental hits like the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" and the Animals' "House of the Rising Sun" to lose that special allure that causes one to sing, but here's a few that I will belt out when they turn up:
*The Bobby Fuller Four--"Love's Made a Fool of You" (1966): I was in a band that occasionally played "I Fought the Law," so I got to sing it onstage back in the '80s. But even better is the El Paso band's take on Buddy Holly's "Fool." They've got a kinetic thing going here, with harmonies to boot.
*The Ronettes/The Beach Boys--"I Can Hear Music" (1966/1969): With overflowing melody and hooks galore, this Ronettes minor hit was produced by Jeff Barry and not Phil Spector. The Beach Boys may have a slight edge here, but only because I heard their take first; the part where the playing drops out and the group harmonies emerge is simply magical.
*Alice Cooper--No More Mr. Nice Guy (1973): The catchiest Cooper, and one of the funniest stories you'll hear on a Top 40 hit. After being called "sick" and "obscene," Alice seeks refuge of a spiritual kind. "I went to church, incognito," the singer says. "When everybody rose/the Reverend Smith, he recognized me/and punched me in the nose."
*Gene Pitney--"It Hurts to Be In Love" (1964): One of rock's greatest voices, but it's the arrangement (kicked off with thundering tom toms) that makes the track irresistible. I can sing Pitney's part as well as a small bit of the backup vocals, too.
*Bill Withers--"Use Me" (1972): Withers was a songwriter with multiple strengths, and this lusty clavinet (I didn't say clarinet) and woodblock song was unlike anything else on the airwaves back then. Bob Seger would use the same sentiment four years later: "I used her, she used me--neither one cared/we were gettin' our share."
*The Seeds--"Pushin' Too Hard" (1966): Sky Saxon's slinky vocal isn't quite as fine as the relentless charge the band summons. There are also those dramatic guitar tradeoffs (low and then high notes; the low tones win out because they resonate better).
*Brenda Holloway--"When I'm Gone" (1965): It starts with James Jamerson on standup bass and the fingersnaps come in; it's a fabulous song of betrayal written by Smokey Robinson. "When I'm Gone" is so short (2:11) that it leaves me begging for a second spin.