Happy Valenbirthiversary

Modern Family – “Regrets Only”

I’m sorry I missed most of the shows last week, I was busy and no one else on the blog has any opinion about television at all. As you’ll remember, last week was the episode with the princess party, which, at the very least, gave Cam and Mitchell something to do, even if it was the same boring bitchy couple stuff they’ve been saddled with lately. This week, Modern Family continued to insist that married couples arguing is funny by making Claire pissed off at Phil and Phil not understanding why.

I don’t even really want to recap this one. Phil provided Claire with plenty of things to get angry about, and he spends much of the episode trying to figure out which one it was. He spends the day with Gloria, while Claire goes off with Jay. Eventually they figure out that the issue was that Phil didn’t listen to Claire’s advice about eating salad. Phil proves that he does take her advice all the time and we’re done. How many Claire stories have been about her freaking out about something this season? I feel like that’s all she does these days.

This all gets in the way of two much more interesting stories. Cam is concerned that Mitchell doesn’t pay him enough attention, which comes to fruition when Mitchell doesn’t realize he forgot to mail out invitations to a party until the day of the event. Mitchell freaking out and saving the day is all right, but what I really enjoyed was Cam and Luke organizing party. Any time we have a grown man and a child communicating with headset while only a few feet from each other is a good time.

Finally, Haley is faking a job to get her parents to help her buy a car. Alex is the only one to figure this out, and instead of just telling someone, she tries to expose her sister by taking the family to the restaurant where she supposedly works. Of course her devious plans are thwarted. This story could have been fleshed out into something funny, but it’s only given enough time for us to know that it happened. Do better Modern Family! Your first season was so good.

Rapscallion is Going too Far

How I Met Your Mother – “Garbage Island”

How I Met Your Mother kept pushing forward all the plots it’s been hinting at this week, which I appreciate since the show is usually somewhat stagnant. Marshall, still grieving the loss of his father, is having trouble getting motivated about work. He has realized that when Lily and he have a child, it would be extremely difficult to change careers, and facing a life sentence at GNB is something Marshall wants to avoid. They’ve been hinting at his change in employment since that episode in the museum, so it was nice to see the show start paying off on that already.

Meanwhile, Ted has been enlisted by Zoey to retrieve some of her stuff from the Captain. This character reappearing is something I hoped for, but doubted we would get. So I was overjoyed that they gave the Captain his due this week, showing his side of the divorce. While Ted felt he had saved Zoey from a loveless marriage, the Captain tells a different story. From his point of view, his loving wife was stolen away by a mustachioed villain, an act that maritime law demands physical retribution for. Ted and the Captain’s interactions were fantastic and full of laughs. I hope they can keep bringing him back.

Also, Barney is gearing up for a relationship with Nora, despite his own instincts. Fortunately, he has Robin to encourage him. I’m getting a little tired of Robin being relegated purely to the voice of wisdom on the show, it’s been a while since she actually had a story of her own. Anyway, Barney eventually gives in and calls Nora, so that’s going somewhere, I guess.

But the most important part of the episode was how it was framed. Ted is Hong Kong in the future, a married man with a bad hairdo, and he runs into Wendy the waitress. It turns out hatred for Marshall led to Wendy meeting her husband. More importantly, Ted hinted pretty strongly that his breakup with Zoey occurred at the same wedding we saw in the first episode of the season, the one where we supposedly finally meet Mother. We still don’t know whose wedding it is, but it definitely is starting to seem like we’ll be there this year.

C.A.T.: Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music

Ray Charles – Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music (1962)

I was going to do James Brown’s Live At The Apollo, but then I found out that it wasn’t actually released until 1963 though it was recorded in 1962, contrary to what my iTunes tells me. But luckily, 1962 saw the release of another landmark in ’60s soul with Ray Charles’ genre-bending Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music.

As we’ve all learned from the movie Ray, at this point Ray Charles had pretty much established himself as the an artist at the forefront of R&B. So after all the success he had with his great run of singles in the late fifties to early sixties, he decided to try his hand at applying his signature sound to the country and western songs he had grown up hearing. Considering this was at the height of segregation, some saw this as a dicey move, since even then country music was more or less regarded as the music of white hillbillies.

To say this is a country album however would be fairly misleading, as Charles takes these old standards and puts his soulful stamp all over them. And the arrangements of these songs are often a little curious as an approach to country songs, as there’s lots of strings and big-band pyrotechnics throughout the album. But somehow this approach works pretty magificently more often than not, as demonstrated on some of Charles’ most well-known love songs such as “You Don’t Know Me” and “I Can’t Stop Loving You”.

God, I really need to do a post that isn’t a CAT

Favorite Tracks: “Bye Bye Love”, “You Don’t Know Me”, “I Can’t Stop Loving You”

I Don’t Know Why They Call it a Pomegranate, But it Looks Like a Pomegranate.

Bright Eyes – The People’s Key

So many years of putting off Bright Eyes and once I finally become a fan they release their last album. Unfortunate yes, but what a note to go out on. Granted I haven’t heard the entire collected works of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott, but from what I have heard I think this just might be my personal favorite, it may even be a tough one to beat for my favorite album of the year, yeah I’m serious.

From folk, to rock, to electronic, master songwriter and wordsmith Conor Oberst has taken on ever changing sound often tied together by no more than his own presence and aptitude for the written word. Always backed by his right man hand in producer/multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis and wild card Nate Walcott, Bright Eyes has pounded out everything from folky protest songs to bittersweet ballads without missing a beat. Their music is intellectual, emotional, beautiful, and The People’s Key is no exception.

With The People’s Key we see this trio traversing more modern pop/rock terrain, but with a hint of introspective stoicism and ya know, other philosophical stuff. Thanks to the shaman-like musings of musician Denny Brewer, The People’s Key maybe the most colorful Bright Eyes record yet. Stories of extraterrestrials, spirituality, and life lessons intertwined with pleasing pop is a surprisingly effective method. Listening to rock music and an absent minded old man at the same time? Sign me up.

Some critics claim that The People’s Key lyrically pales in comparison to previous Bright Eyes works such as Lifted or I’m Wide Awake it’s Morning. Even if this is so, I wouldn’t let that fact cloud the fact that these are some of Conor’s best melodies. Musically The People’s Key is always innovative and exciting, so cut him some slack. I like Conor Oberst but those people that call him the “Next Dylan” should stop trying to label things and just enjoy the music. Hopefully the DaMorgue crew can nab tickets for the Bright Eyes/Death Cab show in Bend, Oregon this May. Though we better hurry, if we don’t it looks like were going to Minneapolis.

Favorite Tracks: “Approximate Sunlight”, “Shell Games”, “Triple Spiral”

The Mistake of British Morning Socks

How I Met Your Mother – “Desperation Day”

I like that How I Met Your Mother is spending a fair amount of time on Marshall and his loss. It would be easy for a sitcom to make it a two-parter and move on, but as “Desperation Day” proves, he’s going through a lot more than grieving. In the season where Marshall and Lily planned on having a child, Marshall is starting to understand what it really means to be an adult and a father. That’s pretty cool.

However, why is Ted freaking out about Zoey all the sudden? He used to be all about relationships that moved quickly. I guess he just really likes her? Anyway, his freakout brought him back to Minnesota, something I appreciated because Ted and Marshall acting like big kids is funny. They play video games, wear dirty clothes, and flat out refuse switching to orange juice when they run out of Sunny D. That’s good stuff.

What were the rest of the characters up to? Well, Lily was so lonely she turned her body pillow into a companion, Marshpillow. This lead to some easy jokes, but they still landed, so props to Alyson Hannigan. Robin once again has nothing to do except mock the others and then provide fodder for them. This time Barney is in Predator mode, so Robin brings her friends for him to mock and then later hook up with at the long-awaited lazer tag tournament.

How I Met Your Mother is kind of just coasting right now, but so are most shows around the Valentine’s Day holiday. At least we’ve got some quality emotional character development for Marshall. It’s been a good season so far and it shows no signs of changing any time soon.

C.A.T: Two Steps from the Blues

Bobby Bland – Two Steps from the Blues (1961)

Don’t let the name fool you, there’s nothing bland about this soulful blues man. Known as the “Lion of the Blues”, Bobby “Blue” Bland had a voice as powerful as it was sweet, marvelously showcased on perhaps one of the most underrated soul classics of all time Two Steps from the Blues. Stumbling upon this album a few weeks ago without any prior knowledge of it’s existence, I’m not lying when I say this plain and simple, blew me away right from the get go. From the opening horns of the leadoff title track, I was sucked right into a soulful R&b wonderland, that track still gives me the chills.

Though no great can be truly great without a little help from their friends and Bobby had some of the best collaborators in the biz. Bandleader/arranger Joe Scott has written and assembled some of the best bluesy classics and wrapped them up in a beautiful big band sound. The quality of the musicianship is off the charts but there’s one particular band member that stands out in my mind, guitarist Wayne Bennett. Always mixed up as high as the heavens in the sound mix, he just may be my new favorite R&B guitarist. I mean I love Steve Cropper, but this guy definitely gives him a run for his money, he’s outstanding.

The whole production definitely reminds me of all those great Stax records artists along with legends like Junior Parker and Sam Cooke, good friends with Bobby Bland. Though this is my new favorite arrangement of soul music not just for it’s talented vocalist, but for literally every aspect of the production.

So you wanna feel good, take a trip back to the heyday of Duke records and the pinnacle of R&b? Just take two steps to the blues and you’ll find it.

Favorite Tracks: “Cry, Cry Cry”, “Don’t Cry No More”, “Two Steps from the Blues”

R.I.P. Kenneth Mars

Kenneth Mars
1936-2011
What a shocker, I didn’t know he was that old, or that he had cancer, but I guess that’s because he just seemed to keep so busy even into his last years. Yes Kenneth Mars possibly the funniest man to ever impersonate German people has passed on. Famous for his roles in such Mel Brooks classics as Young Frankenstein and The Producers, no one could play an over-the-top foreigner like Kenneth Mars and yet he was American, comedic genius.

Though the previously mentioned are possibly his most notable works, Mars had countless roles in notable films including; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, What’s Up Doc?, Radio Days, The Little Mermaid and many TV roles, including; Gunsmoke, Get Smart, Freakazoid, Deep Space Nine and Batman the Animated Series to name a few.

Personally I’ll always remember him in my favorite performance of his as oblivious German Rancher/Francis’ boss Otto Mankuser on seasons 4 and 5 of Malcolm in the Middle. He was easily one of the funniest characters on the show and will be sorely missed.