HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody!! :) Stay tuned for upcoming info on a HUGE release in 2022 featuring the single greatest ep in the history of rock & roll!!! #thehappyscene #takemyteenagehead #25years #finallycashingin
Friday, December 31, 2021
Happy New Year!
These fuckers knew how to ring in a new year. Greatest live album of all time.
44 years ago today
— Punkrock History (@PunkRockStory) December 31, 2021
It's Alive is the first live album by the American punk band the Ramones. It was recorded at the Rainbow Theatre, London, on December 31, 1977 and January 01, 1978, and released in April 1979.#punk #punkrock #ramones #itsalive #history #punkrockhistory #otd pic.twitter.com/6nQkzwWTP7
25 Years Later: Big Star & Me
UPDATE: BIG ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT A RE-RELEASE OF A CERTAIN EP FROM 1996 COMING UP SOON, PEOPLE!!
In 1996, while living in Oxford, Mississippi, I released what most rock & roll historians have considered to be the single greatest ep of all time, The Happy Scene's glorious Take My Teenage Head. You're welcome! I mailed cassette after cassette of it to record labels, hoping one would show interest in backing up a money truck and working with me. They did not.
Finally one day I called up Ardent Studios in nearby Memphis. Ardent is where Big Star had recorded their seminal albums in the 70s, and where The Replacements had recorded Pleased to Meet Me with legendary producer Jim Dickinson. A guy answered the phone and within a minute or two I realized I was talking to Jody Stephens, the former drummer of Big Star!!!!! I say I "realized I was talking to Jody Stephens", but obviously he must have simply told me he was Jody Stephens. Who the hell would recognize Jody Stephens talking?
I was flabbergasted. Luckily I was not too flabbergasted to ask if they'd received the copy of my record in the mail I'd sent; after telling me to hold on a minute, he said it was actually sitting on his desk. Incredibly, he told me he'd listen to the record - MY record! - over the weekend, and to call him back after the weekend on Monday when he'd let me know what he thought
It was a long weekend.
Monday came and I called him as soon as was deemed socially acceptable. Of course I expected him to either not talk to me at all, or give me some excuse re: not listening to it, but in my young (this was a million years ago, after all), just talking to a member of Big Star had already been amazing enough. Once again, he answered the phone. I told him who I was, probably took a few times of me reminding him I'd called on Friday for him to remember who I was He immediately remembered who I was AND HE SAID YES, HE'D LISTENED TO THE RECORD!!!
Long story short he said although he liked it (!!!!!!!) Ardent wasn't in the business of signing new artists, so there wasn't anything they could do for me. I hung up the phone happy as a clam.
25 years later, it still thrills me to the bone to know that a member of Big Star has listened to songs I'd written and recorded.
Tweet du Jour
Brilliant BBC ad parodying the famous "What have the Romans ever done for us?" scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian 🤣🤣🤣 See the original scene HERE.
A fabulous BBC promo from 1986... Only Fools and Horses fans need to keep a special eye on it at about 1 minute 30 :-) pic.twitter.com/jhuQWx5zjL
— Steve Clark (@steveclarkuk) December 30, 2021
Thursday, December 30, 2021
State du Moi
I’ve been loving Bojangles since about 1985 and I’m not even joking I think I just had the greatest biscuit of my lifetime from there. #WOW
(No photo available for obvious reasons)
OFAH du Jour
Rats, I totally missed that yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the finale of the remarkable Only Fools and Horses Christmas trilogy, the Time On Our Hands episode in which Del Boy & Rodney, after decades of scrapping, finally become the millionaires they - or Del Boy, at least - had always dreamed of becoming. It was supposed to be the final episode of the entire series (the Trotters literally walk off into a sunset, after all), but so popular was the demand for more that three subsequent specials were aired, from 2001-2003. There's a lot of debate among fans about whether the show should've ended with Time On Our Hands; my answer is OF COURSE IT SHOULD HAVE, but at the same time I'm more than grateful to get more Trotter time in the years following, so.
25 years! Long Live the Trotters!
Of course John Sullivan's final scene for the episode combines brilliant comedy - Rodney making fun of Del's new, posh pants - and the heartbreak of Del Boy realizing his days of shucking & jiving for every pound were now over.
Pop Culture Hapy Hour
Great, positive end of year article on 50 wonderful things from 2021: The performances, moments, and laughs we'll remember.
I can personally agree with:
2. The purely calming pleasures of the PBS update of All Creatures Great And Small were a moment of deep exhalation at a time in January when everything was cold and isolated and I was hanging on by a thread.
4. Summer of Soul is easy to love and admire just for its richness as a historical document and for the opportunity to watch so many brilliant performers work. But something about its particular mix of performers across generations and genres made it even more than that — it's a piece about the nature of art and community.
25. It is very difficult to pick out the moment I most loved in the second season of Ted Lasso (I am not among the people who was ever disappointed in it). If I had to choose one indelible element, it would be Sarah Niles as Dr. Sharon Fieldstone. But if I had to choose the tiniest moment that made the biggest impression, I am going with the disappointed little "mmm" noise that Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) makes in the "Rainbow" episode about four and a half minutes in. I watched it over and over, and it never stopped making me laugh out loud. "I believe in communism!" Ted says. Beard's eyes widen in curiosity and maybe even excitement. Then, Ted adds, "Romcommunism, that is." A bummed-out Beard grumbles and wrinkles his nose in distaste.
26. The Netflix series Maid, starring Margaret Qualley as a young single mom trying to survive via a tattered social safety net, was one of the few high-profile projects I saw on TV this year that tried to reckon with the traps we set for poor people: can't get housing without a job, can't get a job without a place to live, can't keep a job without a car, can't afford a car without more money than the job pays. The performances are top-notch, but the series, based on Stephanie Land's book, also has a lot to say about how even for a relatively fortunate poor person — an able-bodied, conventionally attractive, cisgender white woman — our systems are designed to inflict misery — and to prevent escape.
47. Not everything about the very experimental AMC show Kevin Can Go F*** Himself worked. But the concept — the wife on a corny dumpy-guy/hot-wife sitcom is seen both on that show and in separate dramatic scenes that show her misery and isolation — was, like WandaVision, part of an exciting moment in which TV showed some willingness not only to experiment with traditional forms but to comment on them. Kevin didn't always succeed, but in its best moments, it looked at the idea of the "lovable bad husband" with the skepticism it deserved.
ONE I RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE WITH:
35. From time to time, a Twitter feed arrives that the world has gone without for too long. This year, it was SNL Hosts Introducing The Musical Guest, one that does nothing except ... well, put up clips of hosts on Saturday Night Live introducing the musical guest. It might seem like small potatoes, and it is, but occasionally you get to see how the hosts manage to introduce bands they'd clearly never heard of until they hosted. You also get combinations of host and band that perfectly capture a particular moment in time. Melrose Place's Laura Leighton saying "Rancid!" is somehow my favorite.
I've seen the SNL Musical Intro Twitter and it's fine, but the winner of this category WITHOUT QUESTION of course is the guy who Photoshops Paddington Bear into movies/tv shows, which has been a delight for almost a year now 🤗
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Who is Loving Xmastime Today, You Ask?
Filmvetter is enjoying himself some Xmastime along with The Beatles' fantastic Get Back:
There is not much more to be said about the documentary, save for the live-blogging of the first two episodes (third to follow) by Xmastime, which is the funniest, most engaging thing I’ve read all year.
You fine people can enjoy my live-blogging of the first two episodes HERE and HERE.
My live-blog of the third episode is coming soon, although I am making The Beatles wait since since they made us all wait 4 months for the 3rd volume of the Anthology cds back in 1996, so. Sorry not sorry, The Beatles!
Xmastime Movie Review
Netflix
I enjoyed it, it's very watchable/entertaining, even if in the the end totally depressing based on how much it may actually be based in reality. I like the reality of the ending. And my answer to all the right-wing snarkiness out there is that the movie seems to be a right-winger's wet dream because they think it's a left-winger's wet dream.
I always assumed that once they saw the $$$$ in taking action, Republicans would dive into the climate change problem. I guess there's still time, but so far I've been wrong. They way too addicted to the soap opera characters in their own party to do anything, much less save the world.
Announcement
Gus!
Tuesday, December 28, 2021
I Will Now Blow Your Minds, People
One of the highlights of The Beatles's sensational Get Back was Paul McCartney pulling their hit Get Back out of thin air. Here are some of the words:
Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner
But he knew it couldn't last
Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona
For some California grass
Meanwhile, 29 years later. Linda McCartney would die in, of all places...TUCSON, ARIZONA!!!!!
Casual Reminder du Jour
Casual reminder that the greatest Bob Dylan song ever wasn’t a song written or played by Bob Dylan.
#OTD2014
UPDATE: I went to the party, her friends found me to be perfectly delightful, and the subject of my toenails came up two, maybe three times at the most. 
Monday, December 27, 2021
Life.
Christmas Day: hahaha canned cheese for a gift how disgusting hahaha that’s very funny hahahaha 🤣🤣🤣
Dec 27: WTF WHO ATE ALL THE GODDAM CANNED CHEESE??!!? 😡😡😡
State du Moi
Was just told that when my goddaughter saw School of Rock she legit thought it was me the whole time and damn if hearing that didn’t totally make my day. 🤗🕺🎸👻 
Sunday, December 26, 2021
Credit Where Credit is Due
These Hallmark movies are unstoppable, marching on and on, hour after hour, like Sherman through Georgia. Cap doffed. 
Christmas Dinner
From the joy of revelry to the absence of dignity: “The Christmas Soup” a One Act play. 
Saturday, December 25, 2021
From The Goddaughter
I’m not crying YOU’RE CRYING okay it’s me I’m totally crying 🥲🥲😍😍🤗🤗 #goddaughter #merrychristmastome 
Weird/Unfortunate Twitter Image Cropping
The image is: 
😳😬😜🤣🤣🤣🤣
But cropped in the Tweet it reads:
😳😬😜🤣🤣🤣🤣
Full Tweet:
Friday, December 24, 2021
This is One Scrooge-ASS MFer 😬😡
Since the Northern Arctic is just ocean, Santa’s North Pole workshop has only ever existed on a floating sheet of ice.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 24, 2021
Images that portray Santa’s workshop with pine trees and snow-capped hills on the horizon are geographically underinfomred. pic.twitter.com/zyGpAPfMAt
Oh FFS du Jour
Just the other day I was bragging on the James Webb telescope, which was set to launch today...but of course their launch has been scrapped due to bad weather.
Grrr.
"But Xmastime", you say in the voice of Craig “Ironhead” Heyward from
those soap commercials (RIP), “didn't you roll your eyes at this bullshit decades ago?"
Sigh. Yes I did, faithful readers, YES I DID:
6) I’m glad the space shuttle finally made it off the launching pad. This fucking thing can hold 50,000 tons of shit, blasts off with 12 gazillion pounds of pressure psi, immediately hits 28,000 mph and OH NO NO!!!....might rain later on, so we better scratch the liftoff. Wtf. Not very impressive, assholes. The post office builds its credo around walking around delivering the mail in sleet and hail, yet NASA can’t shoot this fucker through the atmosphere for 1 minute?
Fact du Jour
53 years later, all three of these astronauts are still alive. Wow!
#OTD in 1968, Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders became the first humans to see an Earthrise above the Moon's surface.
— NASA (@NASA) December 24, 2021
They captured this iconic image and sent a message to all the people back on Earth: https://t.co/DH9V0q3gVA pic.twitter.com/jWTamkCzTW
Thursday, December 23, 2021
Happy Birthday John Sullivan
75 years ago today, John Sullivan was born. I only discovered Only Fools and Horses in 2015, and yet it's inconceivable to imagine life without it. He died 10 years ago, and obviously there's nothing I can say that those who knew him couldn't say better, so enjoy.
ALSO: they're tougher to find but if you can get your paws on his other classics Citizen Smith, The Green Green Grass and Rock & Chips, do yourself a favor and get stuck in! 🤗🇬🇧
Holiday Party
On this day in 1968 Apple Records threw its annual Christmas party, here's some details:
John and Yoko agreed to dress up as Father and Mother Christmas and hand out presents to all the children. The crowning glory of the elaborate, stand-up buffet dinner was a 43-pound turkey.
Wait - 43 pounds? If I could go back in time and meet John Lennon, of course I would lose my shit, or any Beatle, obviously...but if I could somehow be in the presence of a fucking 43-pound turkey?
In America
9) I love when politicians say they’re going home to “talk to my constituents.” Really? Has anyone ever seen these people just wandering around, getting thoughts from the people that voted them into office? “...yeah, so at Arby’s our Senator walked in and we had a long talk....” Yet they talk on tv as if they’re going home and literally setting up a box at an intersection and talking to “the folks.” The last politician to ride in a car without a roof and genuinely tried to make eye contact with “the folks” had his brains sprayed all over Jackie Kennedy’s lap - XMASTIME
1) Few truisms are more true in Americana than if you're from West Virginia you have to genuflect on your knees at coal miners as being the "real" Americans, and your entire raison d'etre is to fight for them
2) Joe Manchin is a Senator from West Virginia who claims to doggedly fight for his beloved West Virginians every day
3) He rejects Joe Bidens' Build Back Better plan
4) The official coal miner's union comes out and asks him not to reject the plan
5) Manchin ignores them
🤔 🤷♂️
Dingle!
Okay so as you most dedicated fans know I got a little miffed at It's Always Sunny ion Philadelphia HERE, but in watching the season finale set in Ireland I realize that the opening credits feature...DINGLE!!!
Enjoy my first visit to Dingle HERE.
On a side note I noticed the transportation coordinator's name in the closing credits....I mean that's gilding the lily a bit, n'est-pas?
It's Always Crappy in Here
You people know how much I love LOVE LOVE LOVE It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but can we stop with this nonsense of bragging that it's the "longest-running live-action comedy series in American history"? I mean camon, after 15 years it's only produced 164 episodes. Not that that's not great, but there are literally dozens of other sitcoms with more episodes. Just because it's been dragged out over a number of years doesn't make it any more impressive - what if I had made one episode of a sitcom in 1982 and then a second one today, would that make my sitcom the "longest-running live-action comedy series in American history"?
Also I'm annoyed - this season of It's Always Sunny ONLY HAS 8 EPISODES?!?!?!?!!?! WTF??? grrrr.
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Year in Review
I love Howard Stern interviews but one of 2021's greatest disappointments was him taking up half of the precious 40 minutes he had to interview Mick Jagger by asking about his dance moves. Wtf?
Questions. I Have Them.
Wait - Was Charles M. Schulz a Racist?
Reality TV Ideas. I Have Them.
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Dafuck du Jour
Not For the Taking
Simply Having a Wonderful Xmastime
Paul’s still talking about this dream. Jesus Christ their first album only took 10 hours to record, this might challenge that. Wrap it up, Macca! Nobody cares! Move on to writing Wonderful Christmastime already! - XMASTIME
People love to hate on Paul McCartney's classic Wonderful Christmastime, and some folks think there's reasons for that, including:
It may have something to do with the structure, or lack thereof. According to musicologist and performer Nate Sloan, co-host of the acclaimed podcast Switched On Pop, “Wonderful Christmastime” is "simple to a fault".
"It moves through the verse section of the song faster than a sleigh with no brakes. Before you know it, 'that’s enough' and we’re off to the titular chorus. It’s like you’ve barely finished your eggnog before someone shoves a plate of ham in your face.
Wait, when did "don't bore us, get to the chorus!" become a bad thing?!?!!
I've always loved that Lennon & McCartney both wrote Christmas songs now in the canon that perfectly match what we think of each of them:
Composition and sonic texture are important, but with a song like “Wonderful Christmastime,” lyrics are also crucial. Compared to something like Lennon’s “Happy Xmas,” “Wonderful Christmastime” feels light and inconsequential. Instead of asking a deep question like, “So this is Christmas, and what have you done?,” McCartney looks around the holiday party and decides, “We’re here tonight, and that’s enough.”
Also, I'd say this video for the song reflects what I've repeatedly heard Paul talk about how much he enjoyed family gatherings as a kid. His dad would play the piano and his large, extended family would all do fun, drunken sing-alongs, with uncle after uncle saying some funny shit. Macca always seems happy to say that now he's the one at the piano, watching all of his grandchildren have a great time like he did as a youngster. Nice!
F*ck Off!
I don't claim to be an expert on the British people's relationship with Boris Johnson but any chance to highlight Gordon Ramsay, Graham Chapman and The Inbetweeners (not once but three times?!?!!)? Yes please!
@rickygervais didn’t think I’d see you on this!! 😀 pic.twitter.com/qMiTlM6ERt
— Vicki Weigh (@VickiWeigh) December 21, 2021
Manchin America
2) Federal government offers help
3) Southern State Senator rejects help, "offended!" by the idea of handouts for "hard-working Americans"
4) Southern State Senator goes back to chillin' on his private yacht
5) Southern state re-elects him by comfortable margin while spiraling even deeper into despair
Rinse, lather, repeat.
🤔🤷♂️
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