As the pandemic continues apace, I continue to post songs with medical themes.
Dr. Feelgood is one of my favorite bands of all time. This is from their second album, 1975's Malpractice. It was the group's only album to be released in the US. It featured the original lineup -- from left to right, John B. Sparks, Lee Brilleaux, Wilko Johnson and The Big Figure. This lineup would last until Wilko either quit or was kicked out (depending on whose account you believe).
Incidentally, by 1982 Lee was the original member left in the group. By then it was, effectively, the Lee Brilleaux Band. Brilleaux passed away in 1994, after which the rest of the band (as it was then-comprised) replaced him. The group is still around, touring. They haven't recorded a new album since 2006.
Just over a week ago I posted about the movie Being, since I can be seen in it. If you know when to look. If you know where to look. If you don't blink.
Well, now it's Ethan's turn. And, to a lesser degree, Asher's turn. And even my turn again. Anthony Desiato, a long-time comic book afficianado who cherishes the time he spent working at a comic book shop in Westchester, has directed a documentary called My Comic Shop Nation. At various times, Ethan, Asher and I are visible onscreen, though sadly none of us talk onscreen. I have included screenshots at the end of this post.
The documentary is, generally, about comic book shops -- how they are similar, how they are different, what makes them tick. It seems to be a kind of celluloid therapy for Desiato. He used to work at Alternate Realities in Westchester until it closed. He clearly misses that shop and the social scene is represented. To make the documentary, he traveled the country, visiting 20 shops and interviewing the owners, staff and customers.
The boys and I ended up in the doc because we were at Escape Pod Comics in Huntington. It was one of the featured shops, and owner, Menachem Luchins, spent some time talking about his business on camera.
I was most interested in hearing what Menachem had to say, since my family are customers of his. It's fascinating to hear him talk about getting to know the customers and what they like and don't like. It was interesting to hear him describe in words the kind of customer service that I've seen so much of. My family and I only go to his shop a few times a year, but he every time we come in he has recommendations for us. And he's usually spot on. What's also nice is being able to wander the store and ask him about anything that catches my eye. He'll take time to describe plots and styles, and opine as to whether he thinks I (or any other specific member of the family) would like something.
But aside from my personal interest in Menachem's shop, I think that Desiato has spun together a really compelling picture of a niche industry that's struggling in the age of mass-marketing and internet buying.
And, before I get to the screen shots from the film, I note that, in Ethan and I are each visible for a fraction of a second in the trailer, which is embedded above.
Now can I get listed on IMDB?
The screenshots:
Ethan listens to Menachem:
Ethan and Asher are visible in the lower left corner:
Ethan is getting something from Menachem, as I can be seen in the background:
I listen to Menachem:
I listen to Menachem, while Ethan and Asher are also visible:
I have a little idea here. I make no claim that I am the first to suggest this -- or at least this general idea. I haven't seen it suggested anywhere else, but I haven't actively searched.
Anyway, I see people argue that capital gains should be taxed as regular income rather than at lower capital gains rates. As background, capital gains is the money you made on investments you held for more than a year. If I buy stock for $1000 and sell it for $1,500, I've made a $500 profit, and have to pay taxes on it. If I held the stock for less than a year, the that profit is taxed as regular income. So if I'm in a 22% marginal bracket, I have to pay $500 × 22% = $110 extra tax on it. But if I held the stock for more than a year, the profit is a capital gain, which may be taxed at 15% -- in this example, that would be $75 in tax.
At first glance, there's a certain intuitive appeal to taxing capital gains as regular income. It's income, so why treat it differently? But that treatment completely ignores the effects of inflation. Consider a world with a constant 3% inflation. Because of inflation my actual gain is less than the difference between what I paid for an investment and what I sold it for. If I buy stock for $1000 and sell it fifteen years later for $1500, I've actually lost money. To break even (after inflation), I'd have to sell the stock for $1558. And yet, despite breaking even I have to pay taxes.
In fairness, I should acknowledge that I have no idea if inflation is the reason for capital gains being taxed at lower rates than regular income. If so, what we have is a piss-poor arrangement. The effect of inflation can be very different in times of high inflation than in low. And the effect can be very different for a security held for just over a year than for a security held for decades.
Which brings me to my idea. The tax code should be changed to include adjustments for inflation when securities are held for more than a year. This could be accomplished by having an index with one value for each year -- to reflect inflation. If you buy a security in year X and sell it in year Y, the cost basis would be multiplied by the ratio of the index in year X to the index in year Y. That way, you would only be taxed on the gain after accounting for inflation.
I realize that the above is kind of a broad-stroke prescription, and a lot of details would have to be filled in. But it's a start. or at least it would be if the congresscritters would see it.
As my reader may be aware, there's a global pandemic going on. And the epicenter, at least as far as the US goes, is good old New York. So, in the interests of civic pride, I think I should recommend New York movies. Starting today, running until the emergency is over (or I get tired of the concept), I will post the trailer for one movie based in New York.
Tonight's offering: Escape From New York
After a rise in crime, Manhattan Island has been turned into a maximum security prison. After terrorists kidnap the President on the island. It's up to prisoner Snake Plissken to rescue him.
Back in the winter of 2015 I spent a Saturday in Connecticut on the set of the film, Being. It was kind of an accident that I heard about it. My father-in-law had died the summer before, and we were selling off whatever of his stuff we could. Someone offered us $25 for the kitchen table. When we were chatting, he explained that he was going to use it as a prop for a horror film he was working on. A little more conversation, and he had my contact information. Or I had his -- I don't really remember. The bottom line was that I would be added to the list of potential extras.
So I found myself in Connecticut early on a snowy Saturday to film a scene with Lance Henriksen. He was the big name they had gotten for the film. He has top billing, and he has both the first and last lines. But his is a relatively minor role. It was well-suited for a big name (and therefore big pricetag) star, so they could fly him in, have him for one day of filming, and fly him out. Anyway, the movie begins and ends with a scene of Henriksen, as a preacher, talking to a crowd of frightened townspeople. An excerpt from that scene appears in the trailer above. I'm not in that excerpt, but I do appear in the scene at the end of the movie. Those who know me IRL may be able to pick me out, Waldo-style from the screenshot below.
It was a long day in Connecticut, but I was cool with that. I had brought a book and a bunch of puzzles, so I was set. They did feed us, and one of the other extras showed me Trivia Crack (to which I stayed addicted for years).
This all may make one wonder why I'm posting about it now. That's simply because I didn't get to see the movie until today. After the shoot, I would occasionally check to see if the movie had ever been completed and released. I figured there was a risk of it never coming out. But it was clear that they were being very professional about the whole thing. And these guys weren't some deep pockets studio that can afford to drop the project. Anyway, this morning I noticed on Amazon that the movie is out on Blu-Ray, and I could watch it on Amazon Prime. I assume it had a theatrical release so I am eligible for an Academy Award for my performance. But I don't know for sure.
Until I saw the movie today, I didn't know how the scene I was in fit into the plot. And I didn;t know if, when, or for how long I would be visible onscreen.
I'm not listed in the credits, which sucks, but is understandable. The only reason I had any hope is that the guy who bought the table said that I would be. So, sadly, this isn't gonna get me on IMDB.* But it does get me a Bacon number of 3. Now, all I need is to co-author with someone who has a finite Erdos number, and I'll have a finite Erdos-Bacon number.
Oh, and I'm not 100% sure, but I think they used my father-in-law's table. There's a scene in the kitchen where two people are having sex, bent over a table. I think that's the table. My father-in-law would have liked that.
*To date, the only movie which lists me in the credits is Auditions (1999), in which I am listed as "Man in Bar." And that didn't get me into IMDB either.
Here's something interesting. From 1979 to 1983 there were three prime-time TV sitcoms whose title sequences featured the Queensboro Bridge. In order of opening-sequence time devoted to shots with the bridge, the three are:
Session: Music, Madmen and Monsters, Week 2 Movie: The Man and the Monster (1958) Directed by Rafael Baledon
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL
Plot: A pianist makes a deal with the devil. But years later, he is trapped by it. Hilarity ensues. Reaction:
A big part of the class discussion after this movie was about similarities between this movie and so many others. There's some obvious Jeckyll/Hyde thing going on that's so obvious I need not belabor it. But I also noticed some imagery that reminded me of Psycho. In addition, the dynamics between Samuel and his mother also reminded me of Norman and his mother in Psycho. In fairness, this movie predates the Hitchcock classic and the 1959 book on which it was based. So it's hard to accuse Baledon of ripping off Hitchcock. That said, Sean had some more-interesting comparisons to mention. Most notably, he said that it reminded him of guitarist Robert Johnson who, according to legend, sold his soul to the devil. From a personal standpoint, I found Samuel's character particularly interesting. As a musician of limited skill, I sometimes fantasize about being suddenly granted the skill of a virtuoso, and performing live to adoring fans. But when I think about these fantasies, I also, think about how it would feel if the skill weren't really mine, but were somehow placed in my arms and hands which had a mind of their own. How, I wonder, would it feel if my hands were playing like Jimi Hendrix or Albert Lee, but they were doping so under the guidance of a force that came from outside of me. Would I enjoy the moment in the sun? Or would it feel the same as watching someone else perform? At any rate, this was a hidden gem of a film. I didn't rate it a 10, though I think it might be a 10 within the realm of Mexican horror films. Ratings:
Going a little stir crazy, I decided to try to come up with a list of songs that have body parts in the titles. Obviously, this is not comprehensive -- I don;t know all music and I am only doing it off the top of my head. Also, I am only going to list one song per body part. So there won't be two dozen million songs with "heart" in the title. But if there are two names for one body part, then that's cool. These are in alphabetical order by body part.
Pot Belly Bill Toy Dolls
Blood From a Clone George Harrison
Brain Thieves Wreckless Eric
Honky Tonk Cunt Country Bob & the Blood Farmers
(Take Your Elbow Out of the Soup) You're Sitting on the Chicken Ian Dury & the Blockheads
Brown-Eyed Girl Van Morrison
Good Hair Day Eytan Mirsky
Put Your Hand in the Hand Ocean
Heart Rockpile
Down on My Knees Bread
Shake a Leg AC/DC
Our Lips Are Sealed The Go-Go's
Wear My Ring Around Your Neck Elvis Presley
Alien in My Nose Trout Fishing in America
Detachable Penis King Missile
Soft Shoulders and Dangerous Curves The Willis Brothers
I have a colleague who takes a variety of performing arts classes at a place called The Magnet Theater in Manhattan. Well, it seems to me like a variety. Maybe it's not so many. But when he and I were in the same unit, and that unit would occasionally get together for lunch, it seemed he always had stories about some new class he was taking. At any rate, these classes include storytelling, improv...I'm not sure what else. Whatever.
I've seen videos of him performing as a storyteller. He crafts eight (or so) minute personal tales. A tale can span years when you consider the background exposition. But, while these stories cover ground that seems mundane, he makes them interesting. So, when he mentioned last fall that he was going to be in a storyteller showcase, I wanted to go see it.
Actually, I had three reasons for wanting to see the showcase. First, I thought it would be interesting. Second, I wanted to support a friend and colleague in his extra-curricular activities -- the way friends and colleagues went to see me perform when I was acting in black-box theater productions (20-plus years ago). And third, I wondered if something like that would interest Ethan, but I needed to see the guy who teaches these classes and see some people other than my colleague perform.
Blair and I went, and we liked what we saw. So, this past Tuesday, Ethan and I started a storytelling class with Adam Wade at the Magnet Theater.*
I didn't really know what to expect going in. The only thing I knew for sure was that the class would be spent working toward a final showcase in which each of us would, in turn, present a story which we will have developed and crafted in class. That's scheduled for late April. So clearly a lot of the class' six sessions are to be devoted to developing that story.
After some administrative items, Adam started us off with a story -- how he got into professional storytelling. I'm not sure how long it lasted, but it was really touching and he managed to connect with the class. Other things we did in class included:
Adam played us an audio recording of one of his former students telling a personal story, and we then each commented (see video below);
Each of us had to pick a personal item from our childhood, and talk about it -- what it is, how we got it, where it is now. I talked about a sign I swiped from the subway system when I was in high school. Ethan talked about a demented two-headed baby doll he got years ago at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.
Adam demonstrated how to list the essential elements of a story, showing a long list of seemingly disconnected words and phrases, and then telling a story that involved all of them, in order.
One thing that is clear is that a lot of the people in the class have more experience with this kind of thing than Ethan or I do. It's a beginner class, but a lot of people talked about doing acting, improv or standup comedy. So their polished performance styles showed when it was their turn to talk about personal items.
For homework, we are to come back to the second class with two or three story idea pitches, from which we will ultimately pick the stories we construct for the final project. Oh, and we are to do something enjoyable. I don't know why.
I'm not sure yet what my story pitches will be, but I have a few thoughts:
My experience with two neurotic cats, one of whom would fling his food around the kitchen when I tried hiding antidepressants in it;
How Blair and I got engaged (without my ever proposing marriage);
My 35-year songwriting project -- how, though multiple rewrites, it took me 35 years to write the song, "Music No One Else Can Hear," while an interim version (which I don't actually like) got me into ASCAP
I've always been a bit of a ham, and I love the spotlight, so I'm looking forward to the showcase performance. Ethan isn;t quite as comfortable as the center of attention, but he likes the idea of anything that helps him with his public speaking skills. He had done quite a bit of that when he was volunteering for Stack-Up, but that ended and he hasn't done much public speaking since.
*This evening the class was postponed indefinitely because of COVID-19. But that's another matter. Since I was planning to blog about the class, my impressions and thoughts, etc, I figure I'll write this post as if I don;t know yet that it's cancelled. Now, instead of getting annoyed, keep in mind that I could write this as if I don't know yet, then afterwards post a follow-up as if I truly didn't know when I wrote the post. But that would be dishonest.
Ethan and I just watched It's a Wonderful Life. Long story.
Ethan had never seen it, and I have never liked it. But I have two thoughts about the movie that had never occurred to me before. Both of these concern events that occur during the time, near the end, when George is experiencing the world as it would be if he had never been born.
Ernie, the taxi driver, takes George to the house that he knows as his home, but of course it's abandoned. He approaches the house and, dazed and confused, tries to make sense of its dilapidated state. Ernie shines a floodlight on him. He appears to shield his eyes in a way that reminds me of The Family in The Omega Man. Of course, it helps that I just watched that movie last night so it's still on my mind.
The cop is named Bert. The cabbie is named Ernie. And as a hysterical George leaves the run-down house, he exclaims "Bert, Ernie, what's the matter with you two guys?" I saw that and couldn;t help but wonder if the Sesame Street characters were named Bert and Ernie as an homage to this movie.
Session: Music, Madmen and Monsters, Week 1 Movie: Phantom of the Opera (1962) Directed by Terence Fisher
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL
Plot: An opera seems to be cursed by setback after setback. Meanwhile, the music publisher behind the opera is using his influence in Harvey Weinsteinian ways. Hilarity ensues. Reaction:
I had relatively low expectations going in. Some of the other guys in the class (including my son) love Hammer Films, and this kind of film is definitely in Joe's wheelhouse. But I'm not as into them as they are. There are a lot of these gothic-feeling brightly-colored movies from the late '50s to early '60s that, for me, blend into each other.* Fortunately, this one didn't take place in a castle, so there was hope. But this definitely beat my expectations. Herbert Lom is a sympathetic phantom, whose misery stems from the artistic theft comitted by Lord Ambrose, portrayed as a prissy Michael McKean by Michael Gough. Gough steals the show, which is a big part of the movie's success. I was particularly interested in the flashback scene in which we witness the Phantom's injury. As a result of earlier exposition, we already know what happens, and yet the scene managed to maintain its suspense. And, while we're on the topic of suspense, I loved the way the movie, in its final scene, teases us with the possibility of seeing the Phantom's face. He removes the mask, showing it to Ambrose -- the man who wronged him years ago -- but still keeps it hidden from the movie's audience. But in the end, our curiosity is satisfied in a theatrically-perfect reveal. As a bonus, this version of Phantom, features what could be cinema's best ever sewer fight scene. In the age of Covid-19**, I wonder if they washed their hands first. Ratings:
Me: 9 Dave: 10 Ethan: 9 *Sssshhhhh! Don't tell Keith or Joe! **As an aside, you can sing "Covid-19" to the tune of "Come On Eileen"
I used to have this 12" single but I don't remember exactly how I got it. I think it was sent to me because I was doing an article for Pulse! Magazine about cowpunk. Maybe not. It's not really a cowpunk song. More a country-synth song.
And I love it.
I do remember opening the box that it came in, and seeing the name "Wazmo." I was really into the Stiff Records label, and they had had a recording artist named "Wazmo Nariz." Could this be the same guy? I wondered. I played it, but couldn't really tell if it was the same voice.
Then I saw, in small print near one edge of the cover, "Ol' Two Ties is back." One of Nariz' gimmicks was to wear two neckties at the same time, so I realized that this was the same guy.
"March," they say, "comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb." Except when it doesn't.
And this year it didn't. Or, at least February wasn't all that lionesque. Or something. I'm not sure where I'm going with this metaphor, but bear with me.
Seriously, though, normally on March 1 I'd be looking for the weather to be getting better as spring approaches. And hoping that, as the snow cover melts and the weather tames up, my flowers come up too. But this has been such an odd winter that I'm worried about how the flowers will do.
One of the things I've learned in my time with LIDS is that perennials (or at least the perennials that bloom up around here) need a period of extreme cold in order to prepare themselves for the spring. And a good stretch of snow cover helps as well (I assume the water that results from the melt is an important element. But we've had a moderate winter with relatively little frigid weather and almost no snow.
Who knows -- it's only March 1, so we may get that late cold snap. But in the meantime, we have lots of flowers -- crocuses, daylilies, daffodils and others coming up. And I fear that this year we'll have a crappy garden.
