We Believe in "Yesterday"

The trailer for director Danny Boyle's "Yesterday" has been shown both in theaters and in various social media forums for months now, but in case you missed it, here's the premise.  Jack Malik, played by Himesh Patel, is a musician/singer/songwriter who has been kicking it around in the sticks of England for fifteen years, trying desperately to make it.  On his way home from yet another pathetic gig, one which has convinced him that the time has come to give it all up and get a real job, a world wide cataclysmic event (which is never really explained) knocks out the entire world's electrical power grid for several seconds. It also causes bicycle riding Jack to be hit by a bus and lands him in the hospital.

Shortly after his release for the hospital, while sitting with friends, including his manager/friend/should-be girlfriend Ellie, played by the totally charming Lily James, Jack sings The Beatles "Yesterday", after which Ellie and the others say things like "That's the most beautiful song I've ever heard.  When did you write THAT?"  It seems that the cataclysmic electronic event has wiped out all evidence and knowledge that The Beatles ever existed.  Jack, it seems, is the only person in the entire world who knows the songs of the most famous and important rock & roll band in history.

A real life rock star, Ed Sheeran, who plays himself in the movie, discovers Jack and his amazing songs, and he, Jack, soon becomes an industry and world wide sensation.  But what price glory if it is all built upon a lie?  That is the question with which Jack begins to struggle, and how he resolves it comes from a source that is a true surprise to the viewers.

"Yesterday" is more of a standard RomCom - with a fantasy twist - than we were led to believe from seeing the trailers and reading about it in advance, but it was a fun and enjoyable movie, and it does deliver a message as Jack struggles with that existential question that I mentioned in the preceding paragraph.  The movie also skewers the ruthlessness and greed (as portrayed by SNL's Kate McKinnon as Jack's avaricious and amoral manager) as the marketers and business people begin to market Jack in ways that, perhaps, the real Fab Four never had to face.

There are also a couple of other funny bits in the movie.  One is how Jack attempts to play his beautiful new ballad, "Let It Be", for his parents, but they keep interrupting him and he can never get past the first line, and the other is how, familiar as they are, the lyrics to some Beatles' classics, just aren't that easy to remember.

Oh, and the final scene in the movie is just delightful.

Three Stars from The Grandstander.

I also want to acknowledge that the headline on this post is a blatant ripoff from Washington DC film critic and Facebook Friend Jason Fraley.  In a Facebook comment,  I mentioned that I would steal his line, but would give him attribution, so, there you go, Jason!!

A Slice of Americana - Geneva On The Lake and Eddie's Grill

Marilyn and I decided to take a quickie, spur-of-the-moment get-away last week, and we chose the lake resort town of Geneva On The Lake, Ohio, a mere two hour drive away.

We stayed at the Geneva Lodge and Conference Center, a beautiful hotel right on the shore of Lake Erie.  It was opened in 2004, and that edifice is about the only place in GOTL that can be said to have any connection to the 21st century.  And I mean that in a good way.  This year marks the 150th anniversary of the town as a lakefront resort, and much of the charm of the place lies in the fact that little, if anything, has changed over the years.  The place is dotted with old style motels and cottages, and the commercial district, about a six block stretch, consists entirely of local and independently owned stores, restaurants, bars, and souvenir shops.  And a fabulous donut shop called Madsens, which pumps out delicious sinkers from morning 'til night.  There is not a chain store, fast food joint, or convenience store to be found, and no place embodies the zeitgeist of Geneva on the Lake more than this place:

Eddie's Grill opened in 1938 by a guy named, you guessed it, Eddie, and it remains a family owned establishment to this day.  There is a limited menu - hot dogs, burgers, french fries are pretty much the entire bill of fare.  There are juke boxes on the tables, and the place plays pretty much nothing but rock & roll from the fifties and sixties.  They could have filmed "Happy Days" there.  

It was great!!

And the place is always packed, so arrive early unless you want to wait in line for a table to open up.

We only stayed in GOTL for two nights, but we got to see a spectacular sunset over Lake Erie....

Took a short drive over to the charming little town of Ashtabula, where we had some of the best barbecue we ever tasted....

And we had dinner at a great little winery.  Wineries are everywhere in Lake County, Ohio.  We chose this one and were not disappointed.  I had a seafood pizza there that was not to be believed it was so good.

We lucked out on the weather.  It was beautiful for the two days that we were there, and it was great little getaway.

US Open Thoughts After Three Rounds

There is nothing like a US Open on the west coast to assure that golf fans in the eastern time zone will be glued to their couches and TV sets for four straight days of prime time.  Add the fact that this year's Open is being played at Pebble Beach, probably the most photogenic and beautiful golf course in the world, and, well, that makes for great viewing.

Some random thoughts.....

The coverage on Fox has been outstanding.  Great shots  by the camera folks and, for the most part, pretty good announcing  by the team led by Joe Buck, even though once in awhile he thinks he's doing an NFL game.  The shot track feature is fabulous as are those lines that they superimpose on the greens that tell you how the putts will break.  Wish I could have that on the greens when I'm lining up putts.

One quibble with the announcers.  Advanced metrics statistics, you know, like the ones that are so stultifyingly boring on baseball broadcasts, are beginning to creep into golf telecasts.  When they tell me that Pete McDuffer has 6.57 "Strokes gained putting"....just what in the hell does that mean?  

On the bright side, we don't have to listen to Peter Kostis drone on about this-or-that guy's degree of shoulder turn while looking at the Konika Minolta BizHub Swing Analyzer.

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Speaking of the announcers, it was cool when CBS' Jim Nantz turned up for a brief segment in the Fox booth yesterday with Buck and Paul Azinger.  Nantz lives in Carmel near Pebble Beach, so it was a good thought to allow for a network crossover and have him on.  I was disappointed, though that he didn't greet us with an "Hello, friends."  I also found it interesting that he said that Pebble Beach and St. Andrews are the best and most iconic courses in all of  golf.  That's it, that's the list.  I wonder what the green jacketed Poo-Bahs at Augusta National thought when they heard that little bon mot from CBS' "Voice of The Masters"?  Those dudes have been known to ban announcers from their little tournament for similar sacrileges.

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Maybe the Fox on course microphones are more sensitive or maybe there are just more of them, but from what I am hearing, the galleries at Pebble consist of the biggest bunch of yay-hoos around.  Barely two or three minutes of any portion of the telecasts pass with out hearing some jerk scream out "GET IN THE HOLE" (even on approach shots from 240 yards out).  There are especially hot rooms in Hell reserved for the idiots who scream that out at golf events.

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Speaking of idiots, how do you like that Jordan Speith?  He came upon the scene in 2015 when he won the Masters and the US Open at the age of 22, and was hailed as the future face of golf.  Since then, he has been seen acting out with some of his fellow tour players like a bunch drunken frat boys on a ritzy golf resort, taking forever to line up his shots and hit the ball, regularly rinsing balls on Number 12 at Augusta, and, this week at the Open, for petulantly blaming his caddy when he, Speith, hit back-to-back God-awful shots in the first round.

Swell headed, over-entitled jocks in the NFL and NBA have nothing on Jordan Speith.

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Okay, time for a prediction, but before that, take a look at my long shot bet that I made two weeks ago:

A victory by Tony Finau would have had me me playing on "house money" down at The Rivers Casino for the entire upcoming NFL season, but, alas and alack, Tony failed to make the cut.

As for those that are still playing, here is the top of the leader board going into the fourth round:

Gary Woodland    -11

Justin Rose          -10

Brooks Koepka     -7

Chez Reavie         -7

Louis Oosthuizen  -7

Rory McIlroy          -6

It is from among those final three pairings that the winner will emerge, and, realistically, I believe that only Woodland, Rose, and Koepka will still be in it until the end.  I suppose that a guy from back in the pack, say, Dustin Johnson would be capable of putting up a 65 today, which would get him to  eight under and reasonably close to contention, but that would assume that twenty-two other golfers tied or ahead of him would all stumble and fall back.  Not going to happen.

Who am I rooting for?  That would be Brooks Koepka because in addition to that wager above on Finau, I also dropped a ten spot on Koepka, albeit at much shorter odds, so a third straight Open for Koepka would net me eighty bucks. So there's that.

However, my official prediction for today?  Justin Rose to overtake Woodland and all others and win his second US Open title.

"Grease", The Pittsburgh CLO, and Other Broadway Thoughts

Yesterday we attended the Pittsburgh CLO's production of the musical "Grease". We attended as a part of a group of people from the Highmark "Out Of The Blue" Retiree Club.  It was fun day out, and we all enjoyed the energetic performances of the cast, with a lot of cool Fifties-type songs and some great dance numbers.

The real highlight of the day, however, was a pre-show, backstage tour that as arranged for us by Chris Kobus, a retired Highmark Vice President and current member of the Pittsburgh CLO Board of Directors (and also one of my former bosses!).  We got to see the dressing room area, a lot of the props, and got to actually stand on stage and look out into the seating area of the Benedum Center.  Kudos to CLO Producing Director Mark Fleischer for conducting this great tour for us.

Some views of the house from the stage.....

The OOTB Gang gets ready for their audition!

Insofar as this production is concerned, the guy who gets top billing is former American Idol Clay Aiken as "Teen Angel".  He got one number and was on stage for all of about six minutes or so.  Meh.  To me, though, the real stars and the key to what makes the Pittsburgh CLO such an institution is the level of talent that comes to Pittsburgh to perform in these shows.  None of these people are household names, but get a load of these credentials....

Zach Adkins (Danny) - In addition to a slew of regional theatrical productions, he has played on Broadway in "Anastasia".

Kristen Martin (Sandy) - Performed in "Wicked" on Broadway and has appeared in national touring companies of "Wicked", "42nd Street", and "A Chorus Line".

Jackie Burns (Rizzo) - Has performed the role of Elphaba in "Wicked" on Broadway more than any other actress.

Ruth Gotschall (Miss Lynch) - Has performed on Broadway in nine different musicals, including "Mary Poppins", "The Music man", and "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas".

I could go on and on with other cast members, but the point  is that when you go to a performance of the Pittsburgh CLO, you ain't seeing second rate talent up there on the stage.

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The Tony Awards will be presented tonight, and I will watch and look forward to seeing performances from many of the nominated plays and musicals.  I will watch them, however, with a heavy heart.  Regular readers know that I always turned The Grandstander over at this time of year to our Official Broadway Correspondent and our longtime friend Bill Montrose for his always uncannily accurate Tony Awards predictions.  Regular readers also know that Bill left us last year, so no predictions this year, and the Tonys will definitely not be the same.  Rest assured that Bill will be heavily on our minds tonight as we watch the show, as he was yesterday when we toured backstage, watched the performance of "Grease", and anytime we see a play or a musical.

It is quiet uptown without him.

"Rocketman"

For the first time in well over a month, we took ourselves out to the movie theater today and took in "Rocketman", the biopic about Elton John starring Taron Edgerton as Elton John and directed by Dexter Fletcher.

All about the upbringing of young piano prodigy Reginald Dwight at the hands of two cold and unfeeling parents.  How he managed to cross paths with lyricist Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell), come to terms with his sexuality, and deal with the wretched excesses, i.e., drugs and alcohol, of his chosen profession, while fashioning a career as one of the major and most important rock and roll talents of the last fifty years.

The way that the songs of Elton John are presented and woven into the story makes this more of a "musical movie" than a mere filming of "Elton John's Greatest Hits."  Very well done and presented.  Great performance by Edgerton, who does his own singing in the movie, and costuming, as you might expect in a movie about Elton John, that is unbelievable.  The budget for eyeglasses frames alone could probably put a kid through college.

Other items if interest:  John's mother is played by Bryce Dallas Howard, the daughter of director Ron Howard.  The "Music Producer" of this movie is Giles Martin, the son of the legendary George Martin, and Elton John himself is listed as Executive Producer on the film.

Oh, and be sure and stay to see the photos that are shown over the closing credits.

I enjoyed it a lot, and Mrs. Grandstander "loved it" (a direct quote).

A solid Three Stars from The Grandstander.

New at Robert Morris University

I toddled on out to the campus of Robert Morris University yesterday to get a gander at their newly completed Events Center.  (The place does have an official corporate name.  I, for obvious reasons to those who know me, will call it the "RMU Events Center" or the "New Sewall Center".)  It is a beautiful facility, and the completion of this edifice has caused me to once again purchase season tickets for Colonials basketball.

I can't wait to see the first hoops game there on November 12 when the Colonials take on the Pitt Panthers, and later that month, see Broadway's Sara Bareilles perform in concert there.

Some photos of this new addition to the greater Pittsburgh sporting and cultural scene.

#GoColonials #LetsGoBobbyMo

 This is the view from.....

....these seats!!!

A New Award

With this post, The Grandstander announces a new Award that he shall bestow from time to time, The Old Man Yells At Clouds Award.

The first awardees are Pirates announcers Greg Brown and John Wehner who more than earned this award with their excessive, over-the-top whining and complaining about the Reds' Derek Dietrich and his hot-dogging around the bases as he hit four, count 'em, four home runs in two games against the Pirates this past week.  

In an interview on 93.7 The Fan on Tuesday morning, Wehner said that he "hated" Dietrich, and invoked the name of Dietrich's grandfather, Steve Demeter, who had been a baseball lifer in the Pirates minor league organization.  Demeter was a "sweet guy" according to Rock Wehner, who is now rolling over in his grave over the antics of his grandson.  "He would not be proud of him" said Wehner.

That night, Dietrich tripled down on the Pirates and hit three home runs in that night's game.  With each homer, Brown and Wehner got deeper and deeper into baseball's hallowed Unwritten Rules and the ultimate dictum in the Get-Off-My-Lawn-ism, the need to properly "respect the game".  

In my own mind, here is the question that the Bucco Propaganda Ministers, aka, the broadcasters, should have been asking:  Why is an at best career journeyman infielder like Derek Dietrich turning the Pirates pitching staff into his personal punching bag?  And instead of wondering how the Pirates should "answer" Dietrich for his showing up the Pirates pitchers and not respecting the game by maybe planting a 95 MPH fastball in his ass cheek, maybe they should realize that the best way to retaliate is to be BETTER than him and maybe strike him out or get him to ground out to an infielder instead of serving him up fat juicy gopher balls to him time after time.  

By the way, Brown and Wehner were getting roasted across the country for their whining during the telecast, and deservedly so.

Derek Dietrich has now hit seven home runs against the Pirates in 2019, which causes me to say this to John Wehner (who in a career that spanned eleven seasons and 804 AB's hit exactly FOUR home runs):  I am betting that Steve Demeter, were he alive today would be very proud for how his grandson has been torturing the Pirates this season.