Perfect Pop Songs: "Linger"

This is one of those "perfect pop songs" that always brightens my day when I hear it on the radio. Which is the only place I hear it, because I don't own anything by The Cranberries.

A Top 25 of the 2000s Special

I'm going to try and feature some of my favorite songs from the past decade that are on albums that won't make the Top 25 list. Kicking the party off today is Elvis Costello, with "When I Was Cruel No. 2."

"The Athletes of God"

"Dancers are the athletes of God." - Albert Einstein

Last night we saw the first show of what, if memory serves, is the 22nd year of being season subscribers to the Sacramento Ballet. For the first time, the season kicked off with a choreography competition, and also for the first time, a program was held at Sacramento's historic Crest Theater.

It was a great show, but what made it particularly memorable was that we had seats in the front row. The stage was 12 feet in front of us, and on a couple of occasions, the choreographers made great use of the facility by having the dancers jump onto stage from the front, or use the front as a "prop" at various stages of the dances. On those occasions, the dancers were so close that I would reflexively pull my feet back, for fear that I was going to trip them.

We have good seats when we see the company at the Sacramento Community Theatre, but seeing them "up close and personal" was a revelation. Hearing them breathe, seeing the perspiration fly off of them, and seeing the expressions on their faces as they were performing added a dimension to the performance that I've never really felt before. The fact that each choreographer had only six days to work with the company made the program all the more impressive. I'm no expert, but if there were any flaws in the performances, I sure couldn't see them.

The Crest only sits 975, and even with that the show was not sold out, which is a shame. The company had to cancel most of its season last year because of financial issues, and I hope we're not going to see a repeat of that disappointment. Because this was a terrific change of pace, and a terrific show.

It's the Not Knowing That Will Get You

Any kid who grew up in Northern California in the late 1960s is going to remember the Zodiac killings. I was one of those kids, and can attest that there was something about them that was absolutely terrifying. The Manson Family murders were bad enough, but at least they caught the Manson Family. But when you're nine years old, and you're trying to go to sleep on a hot summer night with your window open, and you just know there's this crazy killer out there...well, that makes quite an impression.

The sections of Zodiac which depict the killings convey that terror with stunning clarity. There's no gore to speak of, and you know what's going to happen, but the sense of dread - the sense of why is this happening - is so stark, and so stunning that it threatens to overwhelm the entire film. It's a testament to director David Fincher that the film never flags, never lets up. The sense of mystery - the need to reach closure, as elusive as it may be - fuels the film, and makes everything that happens throughout riveting.

The actors and performances are uniformly outstanding - Jake Gyllenhall as the cartoonist who takes it upon himself to bring closure to the case and turns his quest into an obsession, Robert Downey Jr. as the dissolute but dedicated reporter who becomes Zodiac's pen-pal, Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards as the detectives who are ultimately defeated by the case, and John Carroll Lynch as a Zodiac suspect.

But in the end, it's the sense of mystery, the obsession, and the terror that drive the movie, and make it work.

I've Figured Out the MNF Crew

I've put my finger on what I can't stand about the current Monday Night Football announcing crew.

THEY ARE ALWAYS YELLING!

I can understand yelling on an amazing play - like Gus Johnson having kittens when Denver pulled off that miracle win against Cincinnati in Week 1. Or Cal's Joe Starkey with his legendary call of the Stanford band play. But my God, these guys are yelling on every single play!

Contrast what you hear on a typical Monday night with Pat Summerall's call of the 49ers' first touchdown against Chicago in the 1988 NFC Championship Game (you'll have to fast-forward to 7:30 if you're in a hurry). Listen to how calm Summerall is - just a hint of urgency in his voice, and letting the play speak for itself.



Now, imagine what you'd hear if a play like that occurred during a Monday night game.

And I'm pretty sure it's Jon Gruden's fault. Someone needs to tell Jon that he's no longer out on the field, and with that microphone right in front of him, we can hear him just fine. But he's always so loud, Jaworski and Tirico end up having to yell, just to be heard above the din. And I know Tirico can call sports in a normal voice - he does golf, for crying out loud.

So - producers of MNF - consider this a plea to turn down the sound!

Thank you very much.

Top 25 Albums of the 2000s, #20 - "Back to Me," Kathleen Edwards

One of the things I’ve most enjoyed about compiling this list has been the opportunity to go back and refresh my memory about albums that had fallen out of the regular rotation. What I’ve come to learn is that my lasting impression of an album is often based on the strength of just a handful of songs. What I’ve tried to do – and believe me, it’s a lot harder than it sounds – is to avoid “overrating” an album just because it happens to have three or four awesome songs on it.

[As an aside, some brief comments on the concept of “overrated.” It’s a loaded term and a surefire argument starter, because when someone hears someone else referring to their favorite album as “overrated,” they usually interpret that as meaning “that album sucks.” That’s not what I mean when I use the term. For example, I think the most overrated album in rock history is Sgt. Pepper. That doesn’t mean I think it’s a bad album; I don’t. It’s a very good album with a handful of classic cuts. But every critics poll in memory has chosen it as the greatest album of the rock era, and I think that’s silly, because to my ears it’s only the fourth or fifth best Beatles album. Hence, “overrated.”]

You’re probably wondering by now what any of this has to do with Kathleen Edwards, but I told the story to illustrate how difficult it was deciding which of her albums would make this list. As recently as last year I wrote that I thought Asking for Flowers was her best album, but after taking the time to listen to both back-to-back I’ve reached the conclusion that, based on its consistency, Back to Me gets the nod. In the end it’s somewhat of a pointless debate, because Asking for Flowers would probably rank somewhere between 26-35, if I took the time to extend the list a bit.

The first time I heard Back to Me was on a listening station at a Borders in Santa Cruz, thinking that for once I was going to be able to leave the store without buying something (we were only there to kill a little time before going to a movie). But it didn’t quite work out that way. I put on the first song, “In State,” and thought to myself, “Hmm…this is pretty good.” Fast-forwarding on to the second song, “Back to Me,” I thought, “wow…this is really good.” And, so on from there. If I had to describe her music, I’d peg it as country rock with a bit of pop and folk thrown in, although that hardly does it justice. Think of Rosanne Cash circa 1985 (or maybe even Patty Griffin, on some tunes), and you get the idea. On songs like “Pink Emerson Radio” and “Away,” the accompaniment is spare and acoustic. Songs like “Summerlong” and “Copied Keys” have a great pop sheen, while songs like the aforementioned “In State” and “Back to Me” are flat-out rockers.

What they all have in common is a finely realized sense of detail, perhaps epitomized by the lyrics to “Pink Emerson Radio”:

Painted over the walls
the saddest color of blue
posters covered in glass
favorite curbside grab
red Valentine's card
stuck on the mirror to keep
record player made of tubes
spinning Tommy by The Who

There's no time to waste
There's no time to wait

Keys on the hook by the door
for the truck sold years ago
standing guitars in the case
filling up closet space
vintage 40's wardrobe pink Emerson radio

old lace dress I bought in the store
motorcycle boots on the floor

From start to finish, Back to Me is a winner. #20 in my list of the Top 25 albums of the decade.

A Monday Kind of Song

"Hate Me," by Blue October. This song came out in 2006, but it never registered much with me - in fact, I don't remember hearing it that often. For whatever reason, it now seems to be in heavy rotation on a couple of the local radio stations, and every time I hear it, it sticks in my mind for the entire day. I'm not even sure what it's about, but I'm willing to hazard a guess that it's not a happy song. Thereby, making it a Monday kind of song.

If You're Gonna Survive Zombies, You've Got to Nut Up or Shut Up

Zombieland is the latest entry in the unlikely "zombie comedy" genre, and while it may not be quite as good as Shaun of the Dead (to my knowledge, the only other entry in the genre), it definitely has its moments.

Aside from the zombies (who differ from any other zombies that I've seen, in that they are really, really fast), there are only four characters in the movie with significant screen time. As Columbus (no names, just hometowns), Jesse Eisenberg looks exactly like the kind of geeky kid who would create a running list of rules to deal with zombies (up to 32 at last count), while Emma Stone (Wichita) and Abigail Breslin (Little Rock) acquit themselves well as sisters who continue to run cons in Zombieland just like they did in the good ol' USA. But the real star of the show, in a great performance, is Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee. All he really wants is to find a twinkie (as he says, "pretty soon lifes little twinkie gauge is gonna go empty"), and kill him some zombies.

The plot, such as it is, isn't much. It's essentially a road film, where the protagonists learn a bit about each other, and try to survive in an inhospitable world where most of those left just want to rip your intestines out and eat them. But the jokes are good, and as you may have heard, there's a great cameo featuring a big, big comedy star that is worth the price of admission all by itself.

So if you only have time to see one zombie comedy this fall, by all means - make it Zombieland.

Catching Up

Last week was a long week, featuring some travel down to Anaheim. Even though there was plenty of stuff running round my head, it was hard to focus long enough to get any of it down. At this point, I've probably forgotten half of the posts that I was planning for the week, but I'm going to give it a try.

LeGarrette Blount. Blount, as you may recall, is the Oregon running back who was suspended for the season when he cold-cocked a Boise State player following the Ducks' opening night loss to the Broncos. Now Oregon is talking about reinstating Blount sometime in November, leading to some healthy skepticism with the coaching staff and athletic department. Sure, now that it looks as if we might have a shot at BCS glory after all, let's bring him back. I'm a cynical guy, but I'm not quite that cynical. The seeming indecision does prove that Oregon was a little hasty in its reaction after the brouhaha. I believe I'm on record as stating that a 4-game suspension was in order, and now Oregon probably wishes they'd thought it through a little more carefully. Suspend him for a month, set some goals, and then reinstate him. Now, no matter what they do, they look like they don't know what they're doing.

Jeff Tedford. Sure, Cal's losses to Oregon and USC were incredibly disappointing. But the calls for Jeff Tedford's head are just ridiculous. Hello folks, anyone remember the Tom Holmoe era? Those years when being competitive into the second half counted as a moral victory? That year when the Bears had to win their last game just to go 1-10? C'mon folks, give him a break. Even if Cal were to somehow miss out on a bowl game this season, Tedford deserves the benefit of the doubt and another season.

Brett Favre. Things are going very well right now for Brett and the Vikings. Check back again in December, and we'll talk.

Random Comment

Right now on NFL.com, there is an column titled "Titans may be best 0-4 team ever."

I wasn't aware they gave out an award for that.

No Doubt About It...

...no one does hype quite like ESPN. Watching the last half-hour or so of pre-game coverage, one would be hard pressed not to reach the conclusion that the game about to commence is the single greatest and most significant event in the history of competitive sports.

They're Taunting Me, I Tell You

After last night's game, THIS is what I find on the front page of the paper?

Hardly seems fair.

Memo to ESPN

A great Brett Favre pass to win a game in Week 3 does not equate to "legendary victory."

Eagles Stomp the Herd

Pleasant Grove 24, Elk Grove 10. As their signs said, they may have been here first...but now they're worst. As in the worst high school football team in Elk Grove. Just a few short years ago, such a statement wouldn't have seemed possible. But times change, and high school football is no exception.

This shot is of "the flock," and they need to work on their game - and they could start by actually watching the game.

Do We Really Need This Information?

During the lunch hour, I trekked to the Target Store that is closest to our office building and bought enough Halloween candy to keep my office candy dish filled up for the month of October. Looking at the packs of minis, I see that they now have detailed nutritional information on the bags, including handy little drawings that allow the consumer to easily determine the amount of calories he/she is consuming when he/she throws that little Three Musketeers bar into his/her mouth.

I suppose this is all well and good, but I have to wonder - can't we just stipulate that some things are not good for you, but that we're going to eat those things anyway? Is that nutritional information really going to help me in the decision-making process on whether to stop at two, or say to heck with it, I'm going with three Twix bars today?

It won't help me, that's for sure. And just for the record, I did not eat three Twix bars today.

Thought for the Day

Courtesy of George Carlin:

"I'm not a person who thinks he can have it all, but I certainly feel that with a bit of effort and guile I should be able to have more than my fair share."