Scott and I saw Third Eye Blind perform this weekend at a little (dry!) hotel/casino in the middle of nowhere in Central Washington. The concert venue was small, but the seats were very comfortable and close to the stage, and it took us about two minutes after the concert ended to get back to our lovely and spacious hotel room. The bonus of seeing a band out in the middle of nowhere is that you have a high probability of running into band members in line for coffee the next morning. I chatted up 3EB bass player Alex until the keyboard player came up and told him they had to leave NOW. So Alex gave me his food vouchers, and I got free breakfast for me and Scott courtesy of Third Eye Blind. The biscuits and gravy at Legends Casino Hotel in Toppenish are awesome. I lead a semi-charmed kind of life! (Doot doot doot)
Ripley on Netflix. I’ve read Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley and Ripley Underground, and I’ve also seen the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley about four times over the years. I wasn’t sure how they could make the story fresh for me, but this series knocked my socks off, and I already knew what was going to happen. The black and white noir film-making made this adaptation much more tension-filled, and the dead eyes of Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley are chilling. Stephen Zaillian, the screenwriter and director, and Robert Elswit, the director of photography, are both Oscar winners, so they clearly knew what they were doing. So many stairs! I loved it.
STEVE! (martin) a documentary in two pieces on Apple TV+. Come on. It’s Steve Martin. How can this not be wonderful? Great never before seen footage from Steve’s early gigs in the ‘60s and ‘70s as well as some interesting interviews of Steve today while he makes his favorite egg and toast breakfast. Hey, that’s my favorite breakfast too! Great doc for anyone who loves Steve Martin, but a wonderful doc if you ever bought an arrow through the head prop at the Puyallup Fair in the late ‘70s.
Elton John and Bernie Taupin, one of the great songwriting duos of all time, were the 2024 recipients of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, and PBS aired the ceremony this week. Lots of star-studded performances of some of their hits. I’ve been known to give Sir Elton John some shit for his current singing voice, but I have to admit his performance of “Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters” was pretty darn good.
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin/Me by Elton John/Scattershot by Bernie Taupin.
I’ve read all three books. Not this week, of course, but when they came out. I was a little disappointed in Bernie’s, because the title says it all. He needed a better editor. But they’re all worth a read, particularly if you grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Here’s yet another installment in my effort to revisit songs, bands, or music videos from the ‘80 that I ignored, didn’t know existed, or simply forgot about until recently. I heard The English Beat’s 1980 cover of “Tears of a Clown” over the weekend, which prompted me to see if there was ever a video, and I found this performance from Top of the Pops in 1980. The English Beat (known as The Beat in the UK) doesn’t look super dated. I mean, except for the giant neon 1980 behind them. But now that I think about it, having the year in large neon lights on stage should be the law for all live performances.