Rumors have been swirling this week that Clint Eastwood is going to be a surprise “mystery speaker” at the 2012 Republican National Convention tonight. According to a revised schedule released on Monday, an unnamed speaker is going to be on the stage to address the convention after American Idol alum Taylor Hicks performs tonight. Commentators began speculating that the speaker might be Eastwood almost immediately, although other celebrity names have been floated like Tim Tebow. About an hour ago, though, Paul Gilbert, a close friend of Mitt and Ann Romney, relayed that the mystery speaker at the Republican National Convention is indeed Eastwood.
These days, when you mention Eastwood, I can’t help thinking of Bill Hader’s take on the actor’s “It’s Halftime in America” Super Bowl commercial for Chrysler.
August 31, 2012 Update: Clint Eastwood did show up to address the convention and brought along an empty chair. Most say he stole the show, but it depends on who you listen to whether or not that is a good thing. Judge for yourself by watching his address to the convention below if you missed it.
We have another new song from Bob Dylan’s upcoming Tempest CD. In this humorous official video, provided through The Guardian, the song starts off with a jaunty beat and humorous air so that it looks like it will be a romantic comedy like (500) Days of Summer (2009). But soon, we discover it is a stalker story that eventually delves a little into Reservoir Dogs (1992) territory. I like it, but I have not seen such an insane Bob Dylan video since “Must Be Santa.” Like that song, the action in the video has nothing really to do with the words. Check it out.
Can’t you hear that Duquesne whistle blowin’? Blowin’ through another no-good town; The lights of my native land are glowin’; I wonder if they’ll know me next time ‘round; I wonder if that old oak tree’s still standin’; That old oak tree, the one we used to climb; Listen to that Duquesne whistle blowin’; Blowin’ like she’s blowin’ right on time.
Tempest will be released September 11. A number of special “Tempest pop-up stores” in Los Angeles, New York, and London will have the CD a day early, along with other Bob Dylan merchandise.
Jack Black played a member of a Neil Diamond tribute band called “Diamonds in the Rough” in the movie Saving Silverman (2001). It is one of those mindless comedies that can be fun to watch on a rainy Saturday if you do not expect too much. At the end of the movie, Neil Diamond made a guest appearance. Recently, Jack Black returned the favor and joined Diamond on stage in Los Angeles on August 23. Reportedly, Black was enthusiastically enjoying the show from his seat before he took the stage. In the video below, the two engage in a little banter before ripping into the Neil Diamond classic, “Sweet Caroline.”
The inspiration for “Sweet Caroline” was Caroline Kennedy. When Neil Diamond was a struggling songwriter, he saw a magazine photo of President John F. Kennedy’s daughter wearing her riding outfit next to her pony. Diamond sat down in his Memphis, Tennessee motel room and wrote “Sweet Caroline” in an hour. Diamond recently concluded that the 1969 number one song was “probably is the biggest, most important song of my career.” The song has only become bigger, as it became a staple at sporting events, including Red Sox games.
But “Sweet Caroline” will no longer be played at Penn State games. This Monday, a few days after the Jack Black and Neil Diamond duet on the song, Penn State announced they were removing “Sweet Caroline” from the playlist at Beaver Stadium. Officials explained they decided to remove it because so many other sports stadiums already play it. But The New York Daily News reported another possible explanation: In light of the recent child abuse scandal at the school, maybe officials did not want fans singing along to the lines, “Hands/ Touching Hands/ Reaching out /Touching me, touching you.”
Whatever Penn State’s reason, Neil Diamond will survive and so will the song. If you would like a little bonus Jack Black and Neil Diamond, here is Diamond singing “Holly Holy” over the end credits of Saving Silverman with a little help from the movie’s cast. Maybe Penn State should consider playing this song at games.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=dbu1EU9f-d4 What do you think of the Jack Black and Neil Diamond duet? Leave your two cents in the comments.
One time on the streets of New Orleans I saw a street performer who had a dog who would retrieve donations from audience members. A person would hold out a bill while the performer played guitar and sang, and the dog took the cash in his mouth and dropped it in the guitar case.
Initially, we were attracted to the dog’s skills. But after awhile, I noticed that the talented street performer was only playing John Prine songs. I was impressed with his taste in music and willingness to play songs that most tourists may not recognize. I guess having a talented dog gives one a little artistic freedom.
“Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)”
One of my favorite John Prine songs is “Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow).” It is a beautiful song about anger, frustration, and accepting what we cannot change. The song, which first appeared on Prine’s Bruised Orange (1978) album, provides a valuable lesson in its chorus.
For a heart stained in anger grows weak and grows bitter; You become your own prisoner as you watch yourself sit there, Wrapped up in a trap of your very own chain of sorrow.
The True Story Behind “Bruised Orange”
A tragic true story inspired the opening tale in “Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow).”
Like a long ago Sunday when I walked through the alley, On a cold winter’s morning to a church house, Just to shovel some snow.
I heard sirens on the train track howl naked gettin’ nuder, An altar boy’s been hit by a local commuter, Just from walking with his back turned To the train that was coming so slow.
The John Prine Shrine website quotes Prine explaining the inspiration for the opening lines of the song. One day he was driving to do his job shoveling snow at a church:
Turns out one of the altar boys on his way to the Catholic church was walking down the train tracks. God only knows where his mind was, but a local commuter train come from behind and they had to put him in bushel baskets – what was left. I saw a group of mothers standing near the accident, not knowing whose boys it was. When they finally identified the boy, the mother broke down, and the other mothers consoled her with a great sense of relief. This story is coupled with a shattered romance, juxtaposed with a loss of innocence: “My heart’s in the ice house/Come hill or come valley.” In the following video, he tells the story of the alter boy, followed by a video of him singing the song.
Why an “Orange”?
But why the “orange” in the title? The Prine Shrine website quotes from Clay Eals’ biography of Steve Goodman Facing the Music for an explanation. (p.511)
Prine explained that he used the word “orange” for the reason that “he liked the colors of autumn and Halloween, and he ate oranges ‘by the dozen’ as a child.” He added, “‘It just came up as somethin’ that’s really sweet and delicate and gettin’ bruised just by bein’ mishandled,’ he says. In short, the orange symbolized the human heart.”
Neil Armstrong, the first human to step on the moon, passed away on August 25, 2012 at the age of 82. After having traveled so far, Armstrong died in the same state where he was born, Ohio.
Armstrong accomplished one of the great feats of the twentieth century with Apollo 11 landing on the moon. The mission also included Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.
Choice for Apollo 11 and Famous Words
Although it was not revealed at the time, NASA chose Armstrong for the honor of being the one to take the first human step on the moon that July 20, 1969 because his stoic and ego-less personality would make him a good heroic representative for NASA.
Armstrong later explained that his famous words that accompanied his step off the ladder onto the moon’s surface at 10:56:15 p.m. Eastern time came to him only after he and Aldrin had landed on the moon. To this day there is still some debate about whether he misspoke or whether the transmission omitted a key word.
What the world heard, and what was conveyed by reporters at the time, was, “That’s one small step for man, One giant leap for mankind.” Because “man” can also mean “mankind,” the correct quote would have been “one small step for [a] man.” Subsequent studies of the transmission seem to reveal that the reporters were right that the “a” was missing. Armstrong later explained that he wished history would remember the quote with the “a” in parenthesis.
After Apollo 11
For someone with such an achievement, Armstrong lived mostly out of the public eye after the moon landing. After working at NASA for a few more years, he joined the engineering faculty at the University of Cincinnati, later resigning in 1979 to pursue a career in business.
Armstrong did not say much publicly about his thoughts about the historic trip to the moon. He believed he should not get so much attention when his trip to the moon was such a team effort.
But in this BBC interview from 1970, Armstrong talks about the view from space and from the moon, describing the “deep black” sky.
It this day of modern celebrity where so many people are famous for just being famous, it is amazing that someone with such an accomplishment could walk down the street in his later years without anyone recognizing him or approaching him. Well, unless he happened to be walking down the street next to a Kardashian.
