Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Purple Haze of Guitar Glory
Tom Petty's singing lead on all-star jam of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (George Harrison's son is also on stage playing in the background). Anyway, His Purple Majesty just goes to town with about three minutes or so left and, well, see (and hear) for yourself:
I found this on a "Sound Opinions" thread where it was being debated as the "greatest solo ever." Not sure about that, but, damn! It's certainly up there!
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Yeah, Sure, Call it Super...
After years of halftime shows that wavered between T&A exercises (Janet Jackson's "Nipplegate") and musical acts for the Geritol set (Rolling Stones & Paul McCartney), The Artist Formerly And Once Again Known As Prince gave one of the best "live" performances (even allowing for the prominent backing tracks) ever: A mixture of classic hits -- starting off with "Let's Go Crazy", plus classic rock tunes ("Proud Mary" and "All Along The Watchtower" -- more Hendrix version than Dylan); taking the Foo Fighters "The Best of You" and making it his own -- and finishing up, of course, with "Purple Rain." We went nuts at my local bar.
The Man Upstairs must be a Prince fan, because while the players and the fans might not have liked the ongoing downpour during the game, it sure was fitting for His Royal Badness' finale. He may be in his 40s and he may have dropped the naughty stuff for God (Prince is now a Jehovah's Witness), but he proved that he can still "bring it" live, charismatic as ever, even in a huge football stadium, performing for millions across the globe.
And, then, the second half, it was just going through the motions: It was pretty evident from the middle of the first half that the Bears offense (Evil Rex showed up at quarterback) wasn't going to be scoring any points. Meanwhile, the Colts did just enough -- including two key interceptions (one returned for a touchdown).
After the game, with the Vince Lombardi trophy presented finally presented to the long-suffering Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning, the coach once again made a comment that shows why he is so widely respected.
While CBS sports commentator Jim Nantz asked Dungy to speak to the "social significance" of becoming the first black coach to win the Super Bowl, Dungy adroitly stayed focused. I'm paraphrasing here, but he essentially said that while he was proud "on behalf of African Americans" to be in this role, he was even happier that he and Chicago's Lovie Smith had managed to make it to the Super Bowl coaching in a "Christian" manner without profanity or or negative behavior.
There you have it -- on the biggest televised event in America, the winning coach manages to make a statement that encapsulates the hot buttons of both sides of the political divide that has haunted the country since 2000: If you're living in a blue state, you've got to be happy that a proud black man finally coached a team to a Super Bowl championship; if you live in the red states, you should be pleased as punch that that man also testified to his Christian faith getting him AND the losing coach to that point.
Now, that is cool.
The ads, this year, to my mind weren't that memorable. My personal favorites were the Chevy ad with various celebrities singing verses from songs that mentioned Chevrolets, the bare-chested guys doing the car wash (just to get their hands on a Chevy); the Jim Gaffigan spots for Sierra Mist; and the subtle Coca-Cola salute to Black History Month (with its allusion to the Dungy-Smith event). None of them really had a "Wow" factor, but they were, well, pleasant. (The sole exception was the perversely clever Snickers ad with two heterosexual guys unnerved after they find themselves kissing after sharing a Snickers bar.)
In a sense, the ads fitted the game they sponsored.
UPDATE: Written last night after a long game (and a beer or two), this post -- particularly the blue state/red state passage -- could have been clearer: Generalizations are just that -- generalizations. I was speaking broadly about the stereotypical perception of a liberal "blue" state and a conservative "red" state. Obviously, there are people of faith living in blue states, folks very concerned about diversity in red states -- and combinations of both across the country.
Labels: ads, Lovie Smith, NFL, Prince, Super Bowl, Tony Dungy
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Ragged Thots Retro Record Review
RAG's disgust below with the staccato siren of the solon of Sacramento serves as the starting point for Sunday's sonic soirée (forgive me, I'm a student of the Agnew Academy of Alliteration). So, since I really don't have an album review for this week readied, I thought I'd highlight a great song that fits the bloviating of Boxer and her cheap shot at Secretary Rice and any woman, Republican or Democrat, that chooses not to fall in line with the shrill harpies of left-liberal feminism.
"P-Control" - Prince
Since this is Prince, the "P" actually stands for a word that would not be polite to spell out in mixed company. We'll just paraphrase Barbara Bush and say, "Rhymes with Wussie." Now, once you get past the coda's masculine bravado and the gratuitously peppered expletives, this is actually a great song about female advancement. "P-Control" was the first track off of the Munchkin of Minneapolis' 1995 album, The Gold Experience. When I first heard the CD, I thought that Symbol-Man was returning to his former greatness (he lost me after the lamp-shade video, around 1992). Unfortunately, he then dropped that triple-sized turd Emancipation on the public, and I realized we were still in the reign of Purple Pain.
Clean up the lyrics, and "P-Control" could be Condaleeza Rice's theme song! A little black girl endures the pathologies of the inner city, learns the benefit of delayed gratification versus the instant gratification of today's youth culture, and keeps her mind focused on academics until she becomes a power-broker:
Our story begins in a schoolyard
A little girl skipping rope with her friends
A tisket, a tasket, no lunch in her basket
Just school books 4 the fight she would be in
Think of this as the punk-funk version of Bill Cosby's current lectures around the country. And even though our Secretary of State is a tad too demure to sing the penultimate verse, it contains a wonderful line that would have served as a fine b-slap to Boxer, Cynthia McKinney, Maxine Waters, and Donna Brazille ("Three sisters and a weepy-eyed white girl / driving a hog").
Labels: Barbara Boxer, Condoleezza Rice, Feminists, Prince
