My Beach

Well ok it's in West Edmonton Mall. But a guy can dream...

Old Is New Again

Ladies and gentlemen...

Behold the remastered Empire Strikes Back. Filmed in 1979 and 1980. In 4K.

Wow. Just wow.

MTMG

Glenn Frey: An Eagle Soars

Fresh from mourning David Bowie, we now mourn Glenn Frey, cofounder of The Eagles, this past Monday at age 67. I can't confess to owning the landmark Hotel California in 1976, as I was only 5. But I remember all the music, probably because it was on the radio, which was at the time tuned to 126 CFRN "Good Sports". Which is retroactively hilarious because CFRN is now a sports station.

But because I heard it there, I always remembered it. And I always will.

New Kid in Town was always one of my favorites.

Now let's flash forward to 1995...





I had the absolute good fortune to see the Eagles on March 30 of that year at the Edmonton Coliseum, amid press reports stating that this was a must-see-now, once-in-a-lifetime event. I believe it was the first event in the then-refurbished arena. Glenn Frey was the de facto host for the evening when the band felt the need to talk. He thanked the audience for coming, and remarked that to his recollection the Eagles had been last in Edmonton in 1978 with Jethro Tull opening (A quick check of www.eaglesonlinecentral.com reveals that the date was actually July 23. Another fun fact: That show was actually the start of another North American leg of the Hotel California tour after a 10 month break, presumably to break up the monotony of recording The Long Run album, which had been going on for a year and a half at that point).

Everyone seemed to be relaxed and having fun at the Hell Freezes Over show. Both the Eagles classics and everyone's solo hits were well-represented, which was surprising and welcome.


RIP Mr. Frey.


MTMG

January 27, 1986 : Corey Hart in Edmonton

30 years ago yesterday, I was on my way to Northlands Coliseum with my mom and sister to see Corey Hart. I have included the above clip for those who weren't there or who have trouble remembering. For a time, Hart and Bryan Adams were running neck-and-neck in popularity in the mid 1980s, and the fact that Adams might be better remembered today might be due to the fact that Corey has ostensibly retired from the business to spend time with his wife and kids in the Bahamas.

But on this night 30 years ago, he was huge, and my sister and I bought into the music and hype hook line and sinker. We had been to Corey's Coliseum show the previous August, and my mom, seeing what a good time we had at that show, and after making sure that Never Surrender wasn't some punk rant against authority but rather a song about triumph over adversity, gave us tickets for Christmas. This was not easy for her to do as a single mother, and we appreciated it very much. The show was very much as represented in the clip above and the other two that go with it, and it was a blast.

So thank you Corey.

Thank you Mom (who, unbeknownst to me, added a few lines to a fan letter I had written to Mr. Hart, to better my chances of getting a response. Which I did, in the mail that night, from his mother Mindy.)

And thank you Jacquie.





MTMG

RIP Abe Vigoda : 1921-2016

Veteran character actor Abe Vigoda, best known for his role in the Godfather films as Sal Tessio, and on TV as Barney Miller's Detective Phil Fish, died this morning in his sleep at the age of 94 while under hospice care at his daughter's home in New Jersey.

Although throughout his career he had been plagued by various death hoaxes, which he always took with characteristic good humor, this time it's really true.

I can't claim to have seen everything Abe Vigoda ever did. I'm generally not one of those bloggers who spends an hour on IMDb or YouTube and comes away a world expert on anything or anyone. But both those resources are good for a quick fact check or a memory gap.

But I have seen the Godfather films, and I was always struck by the way that Vigoda as Tessio was able to express volumes of emotion with just a very direct stare and a few well-chosen lines, as Tessio wearily and resignedly accepts his fate for past sins.






Just a few years later Vigoda was back, employing that same direct stare, and even fewer well-chosen lines, as Detective Phil Fish on the groundbreaking sitcom Barney Miller. It was a role for which he was Emmy-nominated three times, and it is easy to see why. Fish lets his colleagues have all the wordy glory, then steals everything with just that look. It is a damn shame that, just as now, there was so much outstanding television being made in the 1970s that Abe Vigoda had to forgo the recognition of his peers for his stellar talents.

But the work lives on forever.

And that's all that matters in the end.

Rest in peace, Mr. Vigoda.

MTMG

RIP David Bowie: A True Artist

The world of music and entertainment mourns the loss of musician and actor David Bowie, who died late yesterday at the age of 69.



His music and films will be rightly be celebrated.



But for me, Bowie's artistic legacy almost boils down to this one 1983 clip, in which he criticizes MTV for not playing enough black artists while being interviewed on MTV by Mark Goodman, one of the channel's star VJs.



Consider that in 1983, Bowie was in the midst of a humongous comeback after shedding his Ziggy Stardust persona and attempting a poppier sound with the Tonight album. It was one of two albums that were all over the airwaves that summer, the other naturally being Michael Jackson's Thriller. MTV had been forced to almost begrudgingly place the Billie Jean video in high rotation to acknowledge Jackson's dominance, but were doing other black artists no favors by shuttling them to the 2 to 6 am graveyard shift. Bowie very calmly but firmly points this out to Goodman, who responds with  total going-through-the-back-door-around-the-issue generalities that the star lets the big hairy guy get away with. The label PR person we don't see but probably hear near the end was probably alternately turning apoplectic shades of red, white, and blue at that point, but Bowie does not seem to give a shit. Nor does he seem content to be letting Goodman off the hook with "I understand your point of view".



But at least David Bowie did not kiss PR ass. He said what needed to be said.



And that's what matters.



MTMG

Thank You George Lucas

With all of the recent flurry of press coverage surrounding the noninvolvement of George Lucas in the new Star Wars universe I feel there is one thing missing.

A genuine thank you to the man who started it all.

It was Lucas who spent the better part of a decade coming up with the universe we are returning to on Friday. Lucas who made A New Hope absolutely on faith, with no inkling of future sequels in 1980 and 1983 as he was making it in 1976. He wisely left the directing chores to those sequels to others, while keeping his stamp on them by writing and producing.

Yes, it was also Lucas who came up with and directed the three prequels, the acts of a middle aged man desperately wanting to prove that he still had it. And production and effects wise, he did. But as was apparent from the first film in 1977, dealing with actors and getting performances out of them was not his strong suit. Credit goes to his Hail Mary Pass Foursome encompassing both trilogies (Guinness, Neeson, MacGregor and Portman) for sensing what was needed and just doing it.

Which brings us to the painful divorce. I am damn sure that JJ Abrams (the hot new wife..yikes) is grateful to be able to continue what Lucas started, having directed his "kids"  (Hamill, Ford,  and Fisher) in new adventures. I am equally damn sure that there's a silly Disney gag order preventing him or anyone else from commenting too effusively in George Lucas 's direction. The fact that the Mouse House turned down his new ideas and scripts points to that. Yet I am sure that an exceptionally intelligent and intuitive person like Lucas knows down deep that sometimes in long standing endeavours, change must occur to survive and thrive. I only hope two things: that the "writing room" approach for future sequels and spinoffs doesn't result in a bunch of bland movies. And that everyone involved always remembers who and where the magic came from.

So thank you, George Lucas.

Thank you.

 

MTMG