​From the archives.  This week's contestant is Kevin Shaw from Charlotte, North Carolina.  I was pretty sure that I had the hidden song -- but I didn't.  There were quite a few passages that overlap, but alas not enough.  Which is why I was wrong.  And the composer style is one that just isn't in my ballpark -- though my guess was the same as the contestant's, and he was told that he was close.  But close or not, I don't think it's one I could likely have done.  So, in the end, I was 0-for 2...  But that means there's nowhere to go but up!!
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On this week’s Naked Lunch podcast, hosts Phil Rosenthal and David Wild talk to Saturday Night Live’s Chloe Fineman.  As the site itself says, ”The comedian, actress, writer, model and impersonator discusses her unique success story, from her self-described "hippie doodle" childhood in Berkeley, California with two parents who are still doing improv to the brand new season of "Saturday Night Live" which premieres October 1st on NBC. Chloe talks about finding her voice in Jewish day camp and shares some of her amazing celebrity impressions that she's made famous on ‘SNL’ from Drew Barrymore to Reese Witherspoon to Timothée Chalamet.”
 
I can’t embed the audio, but if you click on the link here, it will take you to the website, where you just click on the “Play” arrow underneath the photo.

Well, boy howdy, this is an unexpected, remarkable treat.  You no doubt know all about the great, classic early silent film comedies from Mack Sennett, the “King of Comedy,” who created the Keystone Cops, and have likely seen many of the legendary stars he brought to the screen, like Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, Harold Lloyd, Gloria Swanson, Carole Lombard, and even Bing Crosby, and heard about so many more – including “Fatty” Arbuckle, Harry Langdon, Ben Turpin and Mabel Norman, whose relationship with Sennett was the foundation of the Jerry Herman musical Mack and Mabel.  But you’ve probably never seen Mack Sennett.  Well, we’ll change that. 

Because here he is as the surprise guest on an early episode of This is Your Life.  And man, is he ever bewildered and utterly stunned by the surprise.  (“I never get fooled!!!”) So much that it truly takes him a while to adjust.  (Indeed, even host Ralph Edwards feels compelled to note that Sennett is still in a state of shock.  “You bet I am!!”)  But once the first person from his distant past arrives, he explodes with joy, and it’s on, almost as giddy as can be.  Most of the guests will be totally unfamiliar to audiences today (with one big exception and perhaps a couple of very small ones), but the story of Early Hollywood they are a part of and tell is a joy.  As is Sennett’s building pleasure.  (One note: this includes the original commercials…)

Just to let you know I'm not alone in my admiration, it was very impressive yesterday to see Rep. Ritchie Torres endorse L.A. School Board member Nick Melvoin to fill the seat Adam Schiff is leaving to run for the Senate.

Torres is new to Congress, just elected in November from New York City, so I don't know a lot about him.  However, I've been following his aggressive actions against "George Santos" along with Eric Swalwell.

As readers of these pages know I'm biased to be supportive of Nick, but in fairness I have many reasons to be so, which I mentioned in my here the other day. (P.S. for those who read the article previously, I later added in that Nick now runs Camp Harmony, a camp for kids experiencing poverty, which he's worked at for 21 years.)  So, it was terrific to see another -- and prominent -- voice chime in the same.

Yesterday, there was yet another mass shooting in Orlando where five people were shot and three killed, including a nine-year-old child and the reporter covering the story when the shooter returned.
 
I won’t repeat my piece from a few days ago about how we’ve long-since crossed the line with debating guns – even by my standards it’s too early to repost that.  But this relates to a couple other issues swirling around the Republican Party.
 
The first is Rep. Andy Clyde (R-GA) who several weeks ago began to pass around to his fellow-members of Congress lapel pins made to look like an AR-15 semi-automatic weapon.  Seemingly, he thought this was a really cool idea and a fun way to promote mass death while “owning the libs.”  Many Republicans thought it was as cool as he said, and they have been wearing this delightful pieces ever since.
 
Even though that specific weapon wasn’t used, what I would love is for reporters to ask every Republican in Congress wearing an AR-15 lapel pin if they are doing so in sort of kindred support of the shooting in Orlando?  And if every Republican who had been wearing the AR-15 pin but took it off yesterday, if they did so out of respect for the dead or just didn’t want to be questioned about it being in horribly bad taste?  And a follow-up, if they have taken it off, do they plan to wear it again, and when?
 
The other matter is that starting a few days ago, Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) began a push to promote a bill that would name the AR-15 as the National Gun of America.  And he’s already gotten some support by other Republicans, among them Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and the inimitable “George Santos” (R-NY), who Mr. Moore was happy enough to join him as a co-sponsor of the bill.
 
Now, clearly, this sick bill has no chance of becoming law.  The Democratic controlled Senate would never pass it, and President Biden would never sign it.  But I have mixed feeling about the bill making to the House floor.  And I’m at the point where I think that I almost hope it does.
 
If this bill to name the AR-15 the National Gun of America ever came up for a vote, that would mean every Republican would have to go on permanent record to register their position.  Either they would vote “Yes,” what a great idea and let that black mark be attached to them for eternity, including whenever they run for re-election and during every mass shooting (which is now averaging 1-1/2 of them a week), or they would vote “No” and risk the wrath of the base of the extreme right.  Honestly, I don’t know what they’d do, this being today’s GOP.  I think that some would actually vote against it, recognizing such a thing as a leap much too far – but I truly don’t know.  And besides “some” is such a paltry number for such a reprehensible concept. 
 
In the end, I can’t imagine it coming to a vote.  But then, with Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, I wouldn’t have imagined him giving 44,000 hours of police security footage to Tucker Carlson exclusively and without checking with Capitol police first.  So, imagination gets to run wild these days…
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Back in 2013, I posted a video of the Smothers Brothers performing a song with the Boston Pops, conducted by John Williams.  Well, I’ve since found their full appearance with the Pops, almost a half-hour, and it’s a treat.  I believe this took place in 1988.  Also nice is that at the end, after they take their bows, the longtime writer and musician from their original variety show, Mason Williams, comes on stage to play his wonderful guitar piece “Classical Gas” with the orchestra.