To Absent Friends - Ed Asner

Ed Asner 

1929-2021

Actor Edward Asner died yesterday at the age of 92.  He is being hailed, and rightly so, for his role as Lou Grant in both the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" and the spinoff eponymous "Lou Grant" series that followed.  Between both of those shows, he was nominated for Emmy Awards seventeen times and won seven times in that role.   He became well known as an actor when the Moore show debuted in 1970 - who can forget him looking at Mary in that first show and saying "I HATE spunk"? -  but he had been around a long time before that.  His 397 (!!) acting credits in IMDB stretch back to 1957.  In addition to playing Lou Grant, his obits laud his role as the voice of Carl Frederickson in the absolutely wonderful Pixar animated feature "Up" from 2009.  However, in this Absent Friends tribute allow me to dwell on one of the favorites of both Marilyn and me, the 1977 television Christmas movie, "The Gathering."

This movie was filmed in Chagrin Falls, Ohio at the time that we were living in Cleveland, so the movie received quite a bit - a whole lot, actually - of attention in the Cleveland media at the time.  It was, and is, the quintessential schmaltzy Christmas movie. 

Asner player Adam Thornton, an extremely driven and highly successful business man in charge of his own engineering firm, Thornton Industries. However, his single-mindedness has caused him to become separated from his wife, Kate (Maureen Stapleton), and alienated from his children, each of whom fit a 1970's stereotype to a T....

• Tom (Lawrence Pressman), the company attorney who fancies himself as a mover and shaker in New York City.  He must put up with the old man at company board meetings, but he hates him.  His wife is played by Veronica Hamel, years before "Hill Street Blues."
• Peggy (Gail Strictland), the daughter on a fast track career as a high powered bureaucrat in some unnamed, but highly significant, department in Washington, DC
• Julie (Rebecca Balding), married and a mother of two kids, Adam's only grandchildren, whose husband, played in an incredibly wimpy performance by Bruce Davison, is struggling career-wise, but is just too goddamned proud to go to his father-in-law and ask for a job.
• Bud (Gregory Harrison), Adam Thornton Jr., who fled to Canada rather than fight in an immoral war in Viet Nam, and whose father told him to  GET THE HELL OUT.  Unbeknownst to any of the Thorntons, Bud is married and now has son.   Bud's wife is played by Stephanie Zimbalist, years before "Remington Steele."

Anyway, shortly before Christmas, Adam is diagnosed with a terrible, yet unnamed, disease, and he has sixty, ninety days tops, to live.   Adam, finally seeing the errors of his ways, goes to Kate and proposes a gathering of the Thorntons for an old fashioned Christmas at the gorgeous Thornton home. It will be a way for Adam to see everyone one last time and attempt to make things right with his children, especially Bud.  One thing though: under no circumstances are the children to be made aware that the Old Man is dying.  Otherwise, the thing will turn out to be as "phony as plastic Christmas trees and piped in Christmas carols."

Will Adam and Kate be able to pull it off?  Will the kids actually show up, and what about draft-dodging Bud?  Will he make it in from Canada, or will Adam never see him again?

Well, this being a Movie-of-the-Week, you can probably guess how it all turns out.  We have a copy of this on DVD, and we watch it every year.  We make fun of the cornball nature of the movie, and we tear up and special moments (Stapleton: "It's BUD!!!) that we know are coming.  We can recite the dialog as it goes along.  It's as cornball as it can possibly be, but we love it.  And Ed Asner, who spends much of the movie wearing a skin tight turtleneck sweater about four sizes too small (and old pro Stapleton) are terrific.

It is how Mrs. Grandstander and I will forever remember Ed Asner.

RIP Ed Asner.

 

To Absent Friends - Charlie Watts

 

Charlie Watts

1941-2021

The news came with a simple announcement:

As a young boy in England, Charlie Watts loved music and showed a propensity for playing the drums.  Educated as a graphic designer, he worked in a London ad agency, and messed around playing drums in various blues and jazz bands.  In 1963, singer Mick Jagger asked him to join in a band that he was forming with Keith Richards and Brian Jones.  Thus, the Rolling Stones as the world came to know them were born, and Watts was a part of it for over fifty years.

I won't pretend to offer critical commentary about Watts' ability as a drummer.  Jagger and Richards swore by him, so that's good enough for me, and I loved this quote that I saw in his obituary that appears in  Variety online today.  This is from a 2019 review in that publication of the Stones' tour that was taking place at the time:

“Sitting at a minimalist kit and moving even more minimally with his casual jazz grip, [Watts looks] like the mild-mannered banker who no one in the heist movie realizes is the guy actually blowing up the vault.”

RIP Charlie Watts

"The World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band" 

Watts, Richards, Jagger, and Ronnie Wood 

The Rolling Stones

"A Rainy Day in New York"

If you know me, and if you have been a regular reader over the years, you know that I have always been a fan of Woody Allen and his movies.  And if you are even the least bit aware of what has been happening with Allen over the last several years, you also know that any discussions of Woody Allen anymore have become, shall we say, "complicated."  

These complications became very much a part of the release of his most recent film, "A Rainy Day in New York", which was scheduled to be released in 2019, and, to be honest, I don't even know if the movie ever was released theatrically in the United States.  You can read all about those details here.  Regardless of all of that, I finally got around to watching this movie over the weekend via streaming, so the question is, How was it, as a movie?

Answer:  It was good, it was funny, my wife and I both laughed a lot at it.  It was absolutely gorgeous to look at.  It was also familiar.  It was, in short, a "Woody Allen movie."

Timothee Chalamet plays the "Woody Allen Character" in this one, including serving as the voice over narrator at times.  He's a college student at a niche New York liberal arts college.  He's not sure what he wants to do in life, other than playing in high stakes poker games (at which he is quite good) and not following the path that his socialite parents wish for him.  Elle Fanning plays his ditzy girlfriend, who somehow manages to land an interview with a famous movie director for the college newspaper.  The director is in New York City, and Gatsby (Chalamet, yes, his name in the movie is actually "Gatsby") then plans a romantic weekend trip to his favorite city in the world, New York, after Fanning gets her one hour interview with the auteur.

Well, as you can imagine, complications and hijinks ensue.  Fanning gets caught up in an artistic crisis between the director, played by Liev Schreiber and his screenwriter, played by Jude Law, and is romantically lured by a handsome international movie star.     Gatsby, meanwhile, runs into some old friends of his from prep school, the younger sister (Selena Gomez) of an old girl friend, and, much to his dismay, a confrontation with his mother, who springs an amazing surprise upon him.

Oh, and it's raining most of the time. Hence, the title of the movie.

I have to highlight one really funny bit.  Early on, he meets up with his brother and his fiancé at their apartment.  In a private moment, the brother says that he doesn't want to marry this woman he loves, because "he can't stand how she laughs."  With the wedding a mere few weeks away, Gatsby tries to convince him how ridiculous this is, and then he, and we, hear her laugh. Trust me, this is funny.

As it often does in Allen comedies, the situations resolve themselves, and you come away feeling good about it.  Still, like I said, the Woodman has taken us down this path before.  

Two and One-Half Stars from The Grandstander.

Oh, and getting back to those complications.   We all have to make up our own minds as to how we deal with these Art-versus-the-Artist situations.  As you will see in the article that I linked to this story, Chalamet, Gomez, and Rebecca Hall, who also appeared in the movie, made some decisions about this.   I'll judge no one for whatever decision that they may make in regard to these situations, and I would ask the same from anyone else.

Chalamet, Fanning, and Allen

To Absent Friends - Don Everly

Phil and Don Everly

Back in January of 2014, the first absent Friends post of that year was for Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers singing duo, one of the great rock & roll acts of the late 1950's and early 1960's.  Phil was 74 when he died seven years ago.  Yesterday, older brother Don Everly died at the age of 84.

The words below are the exact words I used back in 2014.  No need to change a word......

In 2004, when Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel reunited for their Old Friends Tour, they included The Everly Brothers as a part of their concert program, and in his introduction of them to the audience, Paul Simon cited them as their heroes and a "major influence" on the young Simon and Garfunkel.  Pretty strong praise, and acts such as The Beatles and the Beach Boys also include the Everly Brothers as major influences on their music as well.

Marilyn and I consider us very fortunate to be at the Civic Arena in June, 2004 to see The Everly Brothers performing with Simon and Garfunkel during that tour.

The Brothers hits are many (and they are great) - Cathy's Clown, Wake Up Little Susie, Bye Bye Love, All I Have to Do Is Dream, Cryin' In the Rain, and I could go on and on.  In fact, they still hold the record for most Billboard Top 100 singles charted by a singing duo.  Here is one of my favorites, performed by the Brothers in 1983

Listen to The Everly Brothers today.  They are easy enough to find in iTunes and YouTube.   You won't regret it.

RIP Don Everly.

"The White Lotus" Concludes

Both the linked article in this post and my own comments contain spoilers about the HBO limited series, "The White Lotus."  If you have been watching the series and have not  yet seen the finale, you may want to come back to this post after you have watched that episode. 

I will say this.  HBO's recently concluded limited series was interesting.  Filmed in Maui, it was amazingly beautiful to look at, and it offered some pretty good performances by the actors (I will be addressing one in particular a bit later), and it offered a view of a slice of life and human nature that was absolutely abhorrent to watch.  One of the best comments about it that I saw came in a Facebook thread when someone said "I continue to watch in the hopes that everybody in it will die."  Yep, the characters in this one, almost every single one of them, were awful.  

I am not going to try a summarize this story of wealthy, privileged, white American one percenters as they griped and moaned about their lot in life  while condescending to those that they considered beneath them.  Instead, I will recommend that you read this analysis and summary of the series  by the Washington Post's Emily Yahr.   It is the best article that I read on the show since the series ended on Sunday.

As I said, all of the characters, some to more degrees that others, exhibited terrible traits and personalities.  The worst of all was the character Shane Patton, played by actor Jake Lacy.

Shane was a 30 year old, self-centered, silver spoon, spoiled brat millionaire who was at the White Lous resort on his honeymoon with his new wife Rachel, an aspiring journalist who still has to worry about her college loans.  The only time that Shane shows any interest at all in Rachel is when he talks about how beautiful and "hot" she is, or when he is having honeymoon sex with her.  Early on, Shane realizes that the gorgeous suite that they are in is NOT the suite that he - or rather his mother (who later shows up on their honeymoon) - had booked for them.  He spends the rest of his honeymoon week obsessing about getting into the right room, which was occupied by others, and making life miserable for Armand, the resort manager, and Rachel.   There may have been portrayals of bigger jerks in the history of movies and television, but right now, I am having a hard time thinking of who it might be.

Although he has a number of acting credits to his name, I was totally unfamiliar with any previous work of Jake Lacy, but I will say this:  He must be a pretty good actor because I will have a hard time ever watching him in anything that he may ever do in the future without intently disliking him as I think of the detestable Shane Patton.  If he plays Jesus Christ in a movie some day, I'll probably end up hating Jesus.  That's how convincing he was.   

Perhaps the best summary of him came in the final episode when Rachel finally had enough and told him that "he spent his honeymoon throwing a week long tantrum and ran to his Mommy to fix it when she showed up on his honeymoon."  I wanted to stand up and cheer.  But did Rachel actually follow through on her feelings?  You'll have to watch and find out.

My friend Elena made the following observation about the series:  "I watched, but I'm not sure if I'd recommend out to anyone."  That sums it up pretty well.

Two Stars from The Grandstander.

And, oh yeah, there are already plans for a Season Two of "The White Lotus, and yes, I will no doubt watch it.

The Pirates After 120 Games

The Pirates played their 120th game of the season last night.  It was a loss to the Dodgers, and it dropped their season record to 42-78 (.350).  a terrible record, but not, amazingly enough, the worst in MLB.  Two other teams, Arizona and Baltimore have worse records, and Texas is only 1/2 game ahead of the Buccos.

Anyway, a nice round number like 120 represents a milestone of sorts (Def: Milestone - any excuse to write a Grandstander post.), so let's have some fun with numbers.

First, the good news:

• The 2021 Pirates will not exceed the 1962 Mets record total of 120 losses in a season.  To even tie for that ignominious record, the Pirates will have to go 0-42, and not even this bunch can be that bad. Right? Oops, I mean, RIGHT.  So take THAT, Dan Bonk!
• The 1952 Pirates are conceded to be the worst Pirate team of the modern era (post-1900).  That team went 42-112 (.273).  For the '21 squad to reach the depths of that team, percentage-wise, they will have to go 2-40 the rest of the way.  Again, I think that even this team is capable of scrapping together at least three more W's along the way.

Now, the not-so-good news:

• To avoid a 100 loss season, the Pirates will need to go 21-21 the rest of the season.  Maybe they can do that,  and maybe I can win the power ball lottery this week.  In other words, it ain't gonna happen.
• The Pirate will  have to go 9-33 between now and the end of the season to finish at 51-111 and avoid equaling that 112 loss record of the 1952 Rickeydinks.   I believe that they can do better than 9-33, but I also think that this one may not be decided until deep into September.

The most interesting "race" for the Pirates, though will involve their raw wins total.  At the beginning of the season, depending on what casino/gambling app you used, the OVER/UNDER number for the Pirates was either 57.5, 58, or 58.5 wins on the season.  For the sake of this post, let's use 58 as the number.  To equal that number, and produce a "push", the Pirates will have to go 16-26 over the course of the last 42 games.  This is a winning percentage of .381, ever so slightly better than they have played to date.  This is a "race" that I do believe will not be decided until the final week of the season, and if you have a few bucks riding on the outcome, it will keep you interested in the Pirates right down to the wire.

  

You Should Be Watching the WNBA

 

Right off the bat, I will admit that I only started watching WNBA games with any degree of regularity because I had placed some just-for-fun bets on some of the games.  As I was tracking my five dollar bets, though, I found myself really and truly enjoying the games themselves and the brand of basketball that these women are playing.   The cliche is that the women play a game "below the rim" so there are no monster dunks, and a there is a greater reliance on speed, passing, defense, and shooting.  Often times, cliches become cliches because they state an obvious truth.   When you watch a WNBA game, you will see all of those qualities and skills come into play.  Also, the games are fast paced and lively.  Somehow, a game played in four ten minute quarters, seems to go much faster than a college basketball game played in two 20 minute halves.

I am not saying that these games are "better" than NBA games or high level college games.  It would be foolish and stupid to suggest that the games played by Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo are inferior.  No one is saying that the Seattle Storm could beat the Milwaukee Bucks.  The women's game is different, to be sure, but the skills of the players are no less impressive than those exhibited by their male counterparts relative to the competition on the floor.  I mean, did you watch Brittney Griner dominate the Japanese women in that Gold Medal game in the Olympics?  That was a remarkable performance.

The WNBA games are on TV, but they are not easy to find there.  For example, tonight, August 17, there are five games on the schedule. Two are on the CBS Sports Network, one is on NBATV, one is on Prime, and one is on Facebook (?).  Two top teams, the Seattle Storm and the New York Liberty face each other on Wednesday and Friday nights this week. One game is on CBSSN and the other is on Prime.  

I would highly recommend that you seek out at least one of the Seattle games.  They are the defending League Champs, they feature perhaps the best player in the league, if not the world, in Breanna Stewart, and feature two other players who were on the Olympic team, Jewell Loyd and the great Sue Bird.

Stewart, Bird, and Loyd of the Storm

So give the WNBA a try.  I'm pretty sure that you will enjoy the basketball that you will be watching, even if you don't have a wager on the outcome!