These Days: Monday, February 13th, 2017
Immigration: The Obama administration deported the most undocumented aliens ever, an astounding 2.5M . But he was too good at his job, it is like Barack went to each and every person being deported, thanked them for visiting, shook them by the hand and wished them safe travels. Donald Trump has changed the immigration services into Gestapo storm troopers, entering the Bronx at the crack of dawn, kicking down the door to three family houses and ripping mothers away from their children, before snarling at five years in hysterical tears clutching their Hispanic “American Girl” dolls , “You’re next, bitch”.
Prince: as predicted, Prince is all over streaming services and while the album’s back online make no sense and can not begin to compare with the once upon a time complete Tidal releases (and why? NPG belongs to the inheritors). After you get past the mid-90s, it is just bizarre what got put up. Meanwhile, the Grammys finally got it right: Bruno Mars and Morris Day ripped it up all over “Let’s Go Crazy”. Simple? Yes. But it says it.
Saturday Night Live: This is why the show sucks. They should have left Melissa MCCarthy alone, her first Sean Spicer lives in the SNL hall of fame, an unexpected masterpiece and a vicious satire. And the second was an expected self-evident more of the same. We got it, Spicer is irrational and chews gum. Baldwin’s Donald Trump is steadily improving. And Michael Che may well be an asshole to women on online dating services (who knew such things existed?) but he is a very funny guy. Check out his very funny Netflix special. Line of the show during a People’s Court parody: I want one day without a CNN alert that scares the hell out of me
The Grammys: They love Adele, they really love Adele. So do I, but if you weren’t gonna give album of the year to David Bowie or Chance The Rapper (or Yeezus himself for that matter), give it to Beyonce. Also, is it me (I missed the entire show so it might be) but has the Grammys fallen onto hard times again? The buzz was somewhat muted…
rock nyc: Writing for a tiny (as in minuscula) can be disheartening for sure. You work on a review for almost literally days on end and the net effect is five people read it. This is the life we’ve chosen, etc. etc., but there is definitely the sense of speaking to oneself. Then every now and then you get what you need. Here is a comment on my Maria Taylor review from yesterday: “Iman Lababedi Thank you for transporting me to the show. I wanted so badly to be there and this beautiful review is a wonderful substitute. ❤ Maria’s mom.”
Old Music: I am busy setting up playlists for upcoming concerts. RHCP and Cher mostly, though I can’t wait to see what J Lo has to offer. Plus a lot of Maria Taylor.
New Music: Working on my new singles reviews… that Alison Krauss Tom Sawyer single is on my best of 2017 as I type. The new Luxuriant Sedans album was released Friday -a really good album (B+), either I’ll do a paragraph or a full review, depends on time more than taste…)
Death: Al Jarreau was a terrific singer covering everything from jazz to pop. He died yesterday at the age of 76.
