A running sketch that they've been doing periodically on The Tonight Show is something called, "First Drafts of Rock." These are (supposedly...) earlier performances by famous musical groups singing the initial version of some of their most-popular songs, before they got the lyrics right. The results of these "first drafts" are intentionally awful. Fun, too, is the attention to detail for the re-creations of the musical groups themselves. This may be my favorite of those I've seen. It is the "first draft" of the song "Blown' in the Wind" as performed by Peter, Paul and Mary. (Though written of course by Bob Dylan.) And the group here is portrayed by Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick. Fallon, of course, is known for singing and playing the guitar in numerous sketches, and Bacon was part of an actual musical group, the Bacon Brothers. But it's a pleasant surprise to see what a good job Sedgwick does. By the way, as lunatic as the song is, they're able to give it a very amusing "twist" ending, so it's worth sticking around all the way through. For those of you who might be curious about how the song got eventually worked out, here is the final draft version --
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One important thing to keep in mind -- IF Jeff Sessions resigns (or if Trump gets around to having the courage to fire him), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley sent out an oddly-typed tweet yesterday that when you deciphered it said he will NOT hold hearings on any replacement appointment through this year. He said the schedule was fully booked.
It's just a guess, but my assumption is that he wasn't leaving the door open for next year by only noting through the end of end of "this year," but rather that he only makes the schedule for the current year. As co-founder with Nell Minow of the Apology Institute of America, I was intrigued to see that the CEO of the Boy Scouts FINALLY offered an apology for Trump's appearance at the group's Jamboree. However, it was pretty weak, buried down in the fourth paragraph, which is pretty late considering that the apology was the whole point of releasing the statement. And it was just a small part of a 10-paragraph statement praising themselves. It was as if he could do everything possible to hide the apology and cheerlead the organization.
The thing is, though, the problem was wasn't just that "politics were injected," which is all he apologizes for, but that the politics were divisive, and demeaned a former President of the United States, as well as the most-recent Democratic presidential candidate. As I've noted elsewhere, it seems no small thing that the CEO is head of AT&T, which is currently trying to get government approval for its buy-out merger tender of Time-Warner. So, I'm sure that apologizing for Trump's outrage was difficult for him. Tough beans. That's the job. If he can't do it, I understand, then he should quit one of them. Okay, so at the beginning of the week, Trump gave a political speech to the Boy Scout Jamboree and got all the little kids chanting, "We love Trump! We love Trump!" Then a few days later, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders brought out a letter written by a nine-year-old boy named Dylan (well, supposedly written by a nine-year-old boy, though no one checked to see if it was in Trump's own handwriting...) that explained how Trump was young Dylan's favorite president ever.
(Note: It was not clear from his letter what level of comparison Dylan was using was ranking his favorite president. Some people are saying that the list of presidents was Duterte, Erdogan, Putin and Francis Underwood.) And then yesterday, there was Trump again addressing little kids at the White House, a group of the American Legion Boys Nation and Auxiliary Girls Nation -- making sure to let the kiddies know how great he was, telling them that his election was "a pretty amazing moment" in history. And rather than wait to hear their reaction to his administration, he instead told them himself, saying "We're doing a good job, our country is doing so well now, We're doing a good job." Prompting them for applause. He also made sure to toss in a bit more politics for the kids, telling them that he had created the "best job numbers in 17 years," Which isn't true, but then they're kids and like cartoons, so it's all sort of the same thing. I'm sure it was a lovely event. And being the American Legion -- and TrumpWorld -- I suspect that whoever had the brown shirt concession cleaned up. All of this dragging in the kids day after day after day is a bit awful. While I know that the concept of indoctrinating children, especially those in their uniforms, is out of the 1935 German playbook, I have a feeling that while that was a side benefit, the explanation is much simpler. And that's how easy it is to get kids to cheer you and applaud you, and the importance of self-aggrandizement for Trump cannot be over-stated. Though apparently the politicizing of kids was only allowed to go one way -- because when a reporter asked Trump a political question, and shook his head and gave the kids an important lesson from the chief executive of the United States by saying, "She's very rude." On the other hand, there might be something else at play here with Trump seeking out all these kids groups to talk to this week. With his approval rating dropping, down to 35% in the latest CBS poll, it may simply be that this is his new base... I'll let Mark Evanier do to honors on this one, since he was such a close friend of June Foray -- the voice of relentless voices in cartoon, movies, TV, even toys and more, Natasha, Nell, Granny, Smurfs and on and on, but at the top of the list will always be Rocky the Flying Squirrel -- , who passed away at the age of 99. You can read Mark's long and eloquent remembrance here.
I will say that I had the lucky chance to meet June Foray twice, She was absolutely charming both times. Because I knew she'd be where I was going the second time -- to a Writers Guild event -- I brought along a special item for her to sign, and it stunned her. It was a .45 RPM record she'd done with Stan Freberg in the late 1950s that was about an 8-minute promotional sketch for a ladies swimsuit company, Rose Marie Reid. It was hilarious and rare to have. (I got it from my uncle who worked in the clothing industry.) When she saw the record, she couldn't believe a copy still existed, and was gracious in signing. (A few years later, I met Stan Freberg at a recording session Mark was directing, so I got him to sign the record, as well. He was just as amazed to see it -- but really pleased to see June Foray's name on the record.) The first time was memorable, too, because she did the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel for me. But then, I suspect she did the voice of Rocky for most anyone. Now, go check out Mark's wonderful and impressive words about her life and career. The other day, I posted a song from a 1976 original made-for-TV musical version of Pinocchio that starred Sandy Duncan and Danny Kaye. The score was by Billy Barnes -- just fair at best, but there were a few fun numbers. This is the scene when Pinocchio and Gepetto discover they're both in the belly of a whale, and together sing, "I Want to Go Home." |
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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