From the archives. This week's contestant is Jim Weeg of Cedar Falls, Iowa. In an odd way, I almost got the full puzzle. I did get the composer style, which is not as often the case. And my guess for the hidden song (which I thought was likely wrong) was the same as the contestant’s – and we were indeed both wrong. Even on a second listening, where composer Bruce Adolphe slowed things down and pulled the song out more, neither I or the contestant still had a clue. Amazingly and impressively, host Fred Childe was able to hear it on second play (though it even took him that slowed-down version). It’s beautifully done, but really tough.
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On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest is Fred Schneider, the original front man of the rock band, the B-52s. Unfortunately – and yes, this is my personal bias creeping in, so it might be unfair, but I think accurate -- Negin Farsad is back as guest host, and she’s her regular giggly, much too overly-enthusiastic, fangirl self, but happily the panel jumps in more than usual to ask questions, so the interview is more listenable than it might have been otherwise, particularly with his self-effacing and sardonic responses.
This is the full Wait, Wait… broadcast, but you can jump directly to the “Not My Job” segment, it starts around the 18:45 mark. I thought of posting this on the first night of Passover, but since it’s called Saturday Night Seder, I figured it’s best to wait until tonight. This is a wonderfully entertaining “Seder” that was done four years ago, on April 11, 2020 during the very early days of the pandemic, when people couldn’t gather for their traditional Seder service. It’s made with a seriously impressive cast – complete with a lot of humor, original songs, and traditional Seder songs – and put together with notable writers. I should add that while much of it is very funny, it’s also (in part) serious with the inclusion of several rabbis and the telling of the Passover tale and its meaning. But it’s the entertainment that stands out. The cast, not shockingly, is mostly Jewish – it is a Passover Seder, after all… -- but not exclusively, with quite a few invited guests. Among the many participating – and this is only a partial list -- are (in alphabetical order): Pamela Adlon, Jason Alexander, Skylar Astin, Mayim Bialik, Rachel Brosnahan, Andy Cohen, Fran Drescher, Cynthia Erivo, Beanie Feldstein, Harvey Fierstein, Ilana Glazer, Whoopi Goldberg, Josh Groban, Richard Kind, Nick Kroll, Dan Levy, Judith Light, Alan Menken, Idina Menzel, Debra Messing, Bette Midler, Isaac Mizrahi, Ben Platt, Billy Porter, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Stephen Schwartz, Sarah Silverman, Shaina Taub, Henry Winkler, Finn Wolfhard, and many more. Not a bad cast. And not shabby, either, are those who put it all together. The head writer of the hour-long event is Alex Edelman – who I wrote about here the other week. He’s the star and writer of the hit one-man show on Broadway, Just for Us, that HBO recorded and is currently airing. Also, some of the original songs were co-written by Benj Pasek – part of the Oscar-winning songwriting team that wrote the movies, The Greatest Showman and La La Land, as well as the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, which won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. Saturday Night Seder was also done as a fundraiser for the CDC Foundation COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. So far, it has raised $3.5 million. From the archives. This week, the contest is Jason Carr from Philadelphia. In the early stages, I could hear the theme, but couldn't make out the hidden song -- but not long after it became quite clear to me. The composer style is obviously from a distinct period, though it's a period I always have a toss-up because about three or four people. And my toss-up guess was wrong.
My friend Rob Hedden, who I've occasionally mentioned here (often for his deep, abiding love of squirrels...) wrote and directed a movie called You May Not Kiss the Bride. The movie had a nice cast, starring Dave Annable and Katherine McPhee, with a supporting cast of Kathy Bates, Tia Carrere, Rob Schneider, Mena Suvari, Vinnie Jones and Stephen Tobolowsky. The story mostly takes place in Tahiti, and at one point in the film, Rob wanted to have a South Seas-type song to play. There was a piece of music they wanted, but couldn’t get the rights. They ended up getting an original song instead – and the story about how it came about is fascinating. I’d never heard the story, but it came up the other day when Rob was telling me about a family trip he’s about to take to Tahiti, and mentioned the song they got, called “Te Mama Tahiti.” It's a very good song, and it’s remarkable who wrote and recorded it (under a pseudonym), and how it came about. I don’t want to give it away, but here’s a link to the song. Listen to it (at least for a minute, so you can get a sense of it) before I tell you who did this for the movie, which I’ll explain below. Though you might want to listen to the whole thing. It's not that this was done for Rob's movie -- I honestly really like it, and I never would have guessed the artist who wrote and recorded it for them. Okay, the person who wrote this song, arranged it, sang the lead, sang all the background vocals and also played the music for my friend Rob Hedden to use in his movie was --- Rob Hedden! I knew that Rob wrote and sang music. He had a fun, goofy band for a while, Quayton and the Maxiwhackers. But when he sent me this song, I had no idea it was him. About half-way through, I did begin to suspect it might be him singing the lead – but I didn’t think he was all the background vocals (especially since at a few points it sounded like a woman singing, and wasn’t completely sure that he wrote it, or arranged it. The fun story to it is that after the production couldn’t get the rights to the song they wanted, Rob wrote, arranged and did this – but didn’t tell the producers it was all him. He just said that he had a friend who did this and would give it to them for free. (He said the producers really liked the song…but they especially loved that it was free!!) After the producers said that they liked it and agreed that it should be in the movie, only then did Rob tell them that it was all him. And he said that they didn’t believe him! He had to keep trying to convince them, until they did. By the way, the words are all gibberish. They’re real Tahitian words, but don’t mean anything. Which Rob (who is incredibly self-effacing) said is perfect for him. I honestly like the song, a lot. I’ve listened to it at least a dozen times. And I should append one thing I mention above – though it takes place in Tahiti, the movie was filmed in Hawaii. And if you want to see the trailer (it does a reasonable job), here’s the link – Okay, and just because we're honoring Rob today, what the heck, just for the pleasure of the good fellow, here's another squirrel video. From the archives, and a fun, memorable one. This week’s contestants are Isabella and Francesca Dawas from Minneapolis, MN. And what’s shocking is that they are not twins, which will seem near-impossible as you listen to them, but they only refer to themselves as sisters. It’s possible that they just don’t mention that they’re twins, but it seems unlikely that sisters this giddy, talkative and close wouldn’t leap out to tell you that. As for the game itself, I got the hidden song extremely quickly, and I suspect most people will, since it’s not very well-hidden. As for the composer style, this is one of those areas I don’t know well and I just tossed a coin and guessed someone whose work I don’t know well. To my shock, I was right. I think I’ve guessed this person several times when I’m lost in the weeds, and it’s the first time I was correct. Huzzah!
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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