Leno’s done…again; it rained in California; Sochi hosts the Olympics; and today marks the 50th anniversary of The Beatles first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Personally, I have never found Jay Leno to be funny. His delivery, (again, for me), is of the apologetic variety that begs for validation after each punch line…”That was funny…right?” Sure, he looks like a cartoon character, (could that possibly be his real face?), and that could be funny, but even then, there are so many great cartoons that are simply funnier, so that can’t account for his success. Ratings aside, (there’s just no rhyme or reason to what’s popular on TV), he was obviously the wrong choice to succeed Johnny Carson. Steve Allen, who invented the format was its unrivaled master, (I’m purposely leaving Jack Paar out of this because that was just a completely different show). Johnny had an ‘awe shucks’ demeanor in contrast to Steve’s brashness, but believed in the ‘I’ll do anything, really, anything for a laugh’ mantra of Mr. Allen; the physical humor and all of those ridiculous, recurring characters. And both Steve and Johnny delighted in introducing new talent in music and comedy that was mostly missing in the tenure of the apparently more narcissistic world of Jay. I don’t know why I’m wasting so much time on this…I hope he enjoys tinkering with his fleet of cars, and I really, really hope he doesn’t come back.
Way more interesting, it rained and snowed in California. Probably not enough to put a dent in the depleted water reserves, but maybe…
The Winter Olympics opened in Sochi, (a palm-treed summer resort on the Black Sea), Russia on Friday. It cost, (I’m probably getting these numbers wrong, but they’re so big that accuracy is inconsequential), $52,000,000,000.00, (that’s billions for those too lazy to count zeroes). I haven’t seen all of the data, but I think it cost around $5,000,000,000.00 to build the venues; stadia, bobsled, ski and snowboard runs, athlete accommodations and support facilities. The rest, $47,000,000,000.00…miscellaneous. I love athletics and marvel at the accomplishments and dedication of athletes of all disciplines, especially in the sports that I’ve dabbled in, but who’s had there fill of Bob Costas and Matt Lauer and that Vieira lady blah, blah, blah, blah-ing for twenty-five out of every thirty non-commercial minutes of air time? Thankfully, the Internet and the DVR make it possible to watch most of the amazing athletic competition in its purest, un-NBCed or Putinized form
And…it was 50 years ago today…
The Beatles appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, (or as my Zayde, Louis called it, Ed Solomon), changed a lot of things in my life. The seemingly inconsequential release of “Please Please Me”, “From Me to You”, almost a year earlier, and later, “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, had already begun to change the hold my beloved folk music had on college campuses, (the bread and butter of us folkies), across the country. Student coffee houses began closing or converting to go-go clubs and in a matter of months, this trend virtually ended the performing careers of hundreds, (maybe thousands), of finger-picking, banjo-plucking unamplified minstrels. February 9, 1964 was the exclamation point. I didn’t want to love the music made by these guys that I hated for fucking with my future, but the alternative future I found probably wouldn’t have been an option without them and loving their music was never an option. I wonder, (in a Stephen King kinda way), what would have happened if Tessie O’Shea, (also on Ed that night), had simply brought her ‘A’ game and showed the boys up.