Are you watching this? It’s so STUPID!

Which is why it’s so great.

The “Curb Your Enthusiasm” takeoff is genius. Even down to the staring contest between Judas and the Roman soldier.

The original “History of the World,” you know, “Pt. 1,” was uneven. It’s hard to do comedy, it’s hard to be consistent. Mel Brooks’s best work was “The Producers,” and “Blazing Saddles.” But it looked like he was losing his touch, but “Part II” Shows he has not.

The Jews in the shtetl doing a musical, even down to the “Fiddler on the Roof” parody…

And the Romanov stuff, where the daughter is an influencer.

They don’t make this kind of comedy anymore. Somehow it faded out. You know, the offensive stuff you can get away with. Stuff where the conception is key. You know, left field stuff, stuff so out there, that you cannot help but laugh to the point where you cry.

Hitler on ice? With the Olympic commentators? I’m laughing just thinking about it.

Before “Part II” we watched this week’s John Oliver, where he did his best to nail DeSantis. Does any right-winger watch John Oliver? Furthermore, if I do say so myself, somehow John didn’t put the stake in DeSantis’s heart. We knew most of the material, at least I did, we were looking for the unknown delivered in such a delicious way that no one could vote for Ron.

But politics is scary. It’s like we’re living in the Russia of the 50s and 60s, you know, with mind control, where you didn’t learn anything, couldn’t learn anything, whole swaths of information were excised. Did you see that “Times” article about the right wing outlets which didn’t cover the Dominion suit, how Fox knew what they were saying was false? Probably not. Here it is:

“Conservative Media Pay Little Attention to Revelations About Fox News – Even in today’s highly partisan media world, experts said, the lack of coverage about the private comments of Fox’s top executives and hosts stands out.”: https://nyti.ms/3F4cIIp

Ah, you won’t read it, either you know all this or don’t want to. Ain’t that America.

And speaking of TV, did you watch Bill Maher on Friday night? First and foremost I’m sick of Bill and his Covid B.S. He said the other week that natural immunity is as good as the vaccine. Yes, the study said this, IF YOU HAD COVID! If you did not, it’s open season. I hate that people are so narrow-minded that they are limited by their own experience. I don’t think Bill knows anybody who died. I know plenty. I can’t get over Lisa’s father passing, he was the rock of their family. This was before the vaccine. Hey, take all the risk you want. You think you’re immune, you’re not. I know too many people who don’t know someone who died. And their narrow view would have you believe that Covid was nothing. As for whether it came from a lab or not, WHO CARES! I mean we’d like to know, but what does that change? Covid was a big deal, I’m still recovering mentally, from the years locked down. That ain’t gonna change no matter where it came from, even if Fred Flintstone cooked it up between strings at the bowling alley.

But even worse was Russell Brand. An uninformed nincompoop who hogged all the time on “Real Time” so no one else could speak truth. He was busy making a tzimmes because he’s promoting a new movie. God, even when you blow the whistle on Bill he refuses to acknowledge it. I got e-mail from people who’ve run into Chris Rock and he was nice. Can’t imagine Bill giving people the time of day. Whenever you see him around town he’s still wearing a damn suit. And Bill, we know you had a hair transplant too, who else would wear that combed-back hairstyle. I’m trashing you because too many people get your news from you, it should at least be fair and balanced, and I’m not talking about Fox.

Which is why “Part II” is so great. It takes you away from today’s world where you feel powerless, observe insanity and don’t know what to do. You see “History of the World, Pt. II” is insane, even down to the vomiting on the boat on the way to Omaha Beach, an homage to the farting scene in “Blazing Saddles.”

No, every joke doesn’t work, but this nonagenarian takes more risks and hits more bullseyes than all those comedians on TikTok, trying to blow themselves up.

Mel Brooks coming back is like Paul McCartney cutting a new “Band on the Run,” or Bob Dylan cutting a new “Blood on the Tracks.” Completely surprising, completely unfathomable.

I don’t want to overhype you. Then again, I can’t. Like I said, this show works mostly because it’s so stupid, the conceptions are so whacked. You’ll laugh in a way you haven’t for decades…

WATCH IT!

Netflix trailer: https://bit.ly/3mtHYtW

George Drakoulias told me to watch it.

First we had to finish “Shrinking,” well at least everything but the last episode, had to wait until 3/4 to watch that, and then…

I trust George.

I was familiar with the show. But the buzz was mixed. And I passed.

So revisiting the data, I saw that it had a 100% critics rating on RottenTomatoes and a 62% audience score. That’s my kind of show.

You can’t trust the public when it comes to TV. Like the aforementioned “Shrinking”… Harrison Ford is good playing against type, and the young ‘uns are good, very good, but Jason Segel… Does he ever get really mad? You think you like him, you think he’s a good actor, but then he’s compromised. As for Christa Miller… I’m a big fan, but I didn’t even recognize her. This is just plain sad. She’s had so much plastic surgery that she doesn’t even resemble who she used to be. And the lips… I know, I know, I can’t attack women’s looks. But I point you to this recent article in the “Los Angeles Times”: 

“‘This is me, this is my face’: Actress Mimi Rogers on aging naturally, without cosmetic surgery”: https://lat.ms/3kSdtNY

And Christa’s husband is two-dimensional and “Shrinking” is a traditional sitcom, just a smidge better. It’s no “Hacks,” it’s certainly no “Love Life,” which you probably still haven’t seen, because it was buried by HBO Max and there’s no buzz, but I assure you, it’s great.

Now “Shrinking” has 81/85 on RottenTomatoes, which kind of undercuts my point, but it’s not 100%!

You see the public can’t handle foreign, can’t handle challenging, if it’s not obvious, they’re out. And call me an elitist and…I’ll own it. As for all you doofuses who e-mail me that you love foreign flicks and… Do you think when I write this stuff I mentally poll each and every one of my subscribers? Not everything is about YOU!

So…

“Kleo” is a black comedy. Its most obvious analogue is the “Deutschland” series. Real life events re the fall of the Berlin Wall, but with a leavening of comedy.

“Kleo” too is a post-Wall story. But the weird thing is the main actress, Jella Haase, wasn’t even born when the Wall came down. And that’s weird, because it seems like yesterday to me.

So, Kleo is a Stasi assassin. But she is thrown into jail and she’s there for a couple of years until the Wall falls, and then she looks for the person who is responsible for her incarceration. I know, I know, I’ve revealed some plot points, but the above is in each and every review. But really, it’s not the specific plot points you watch for, even though they twist and turn and are fascinating, but Jella Haase herself.

Whew!

She’s not Hollywood beautiful, not that she’s not attractive. But she’s intense. She’s got a brain. And a sense of humor, you can’t take your eyes off her. What does she feel, what is she going to do next, she sacrificed it all for the cause and..?

Well, now I’m gonna contradict myself, actually you do watch for the plot points. That’s what makes the whole show hold together. And you’re not exactly sure who is a good guy or gal, or who is not. And bumbling Sven Petzold… You come to like him too. You know, the company man who the company doesn’t like. Who can’t get ahead, because sometimes he’s wrong, and when he’s right, no one believes him!

But there’s the tone. Sometimes deadly serious and other times funny.

“Kleo” is not a hard watch. But you do have to pay attention. You cannot multitask while watching it.

But unlike dreck like “Shrinking,” you will be drawn in, you will feel you’re part of the world.

Utterly fascinating.

BIG thumbs up!

Every original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd is dead? I thought the Ramones were an anomaly. What happens out on the road, why is it that musicians pass before their time?

I know, I know, you’re angry that I’m not mentioning all the other performers who have recently died, most specifically David Lindley. Man, I saw him with Jackson Browne at the Bitter End back in ’72, I bought “El Rayo-X.” I even saw him live before the pandemic.

But David Lindley was normal, he lived in Claremont for God’s sake. I don’t want to denigrate his musicianship, which was superb, but Lindley was not a rock star. You know, the kind that used to rape and pillage across the country, who got drunk, did drugs, got laid… That was Lynyrd Skynyrd.

And I know I can’t say “rape and pillage” anymore. But that’s how they described the rock star lifestyle back in the seventies, and Lynyrd Skynyrd were part of the firmament of the seventies, even after the plane crash.

So…

“Free Bird” was not an immediate hit. After all, Skynyrd was on Al Kooper’s Sounds of the South label, distributed by MCA, and you remember Skynyrd’s song about MCA, right?

And just a sidenote re Al… He produced the first three LPs, the band’s best work… Better than the iconic Tom Dowd’s stuff thereafter.

So… Skynyrd penetrated the populace very slowly. This was not “Led Zeppelin IV,” where “Stairway to Heaven” was immediately added to playlists. In truth, Skynyrd didn’t really break through until the second album, “Second Helping,” with “Sweet Home Alabama.”

You’ve got to understand, Skynyrd were relatively late in the procession of southern rock bands. It started with the Allman Brothers, but then their manager had his own label, Capricorn, and was issuing product on a regular basis. The Marshall Tucker Band delivered, but Skynyrd almost arrived as also-rans, they were seen as low rent imitators. I’m talking about the perception, forget the facts.

But tracks started to permeate FM radio…

God, if today’s youngsters lived through the days of AOR in the seventies. EVERYBODY listened, the FM rock station was the heartbeat of America. If you tuned in, you learned everything you needed to survive. And you never missed a show because you were unaware of it, when a band came to town…

So as the decade wore on, and they had the Memorial 500 and other holiday countdowns, number one was always “Stairway to Heaven.” Number two was “Free Bird.” And eventually “Kashmir” was number three. Always, year after year.

You see Lynyrd Skynyrd had three lead guitarists. We’d seen two drummers, but three lead guitarists? It pushed the music over the line, made it special, magical.

And then…

That guitar figure and Ronnie Van Zant saying “Turn it up.”

“Sweet Home Alabama” was one of those one listen records. Looped you right in. I asked Al Kooper the backstory. Just after the first LP was released, the band called and asked to come up to Hot Lanta to record a new song. That wasn’t released for another year. I asked Al if he knew it was a hit. He said…IT WAS SWEET HOME ALABAMA!

Now I’m not going to write chapter and verse about Skynyrd’s career.

But one thing you’ve got to know is Ronnie Van Zant was the frontman, and not a reluctant one like Gregg Allman. Ronnie had a large personality, he was full of quotes, and he didn’t give a f*uck, he’d say whatever he wanted. Point being, the rest of the band was relatively faceless. You only knew the players from the album covers.

And the key songwriters were Van Zant, Allen Collins, occasionally Ed King and Gary Rossington, Rossington had his hands all over the hits.

And after the plane crash, Rossington united with Collins in the Rossington Collins Band, with Dale Krantz as the lead singer. How could you not buy it, you wanted another hit of the magic, at least I did, I loved “Don’t Misunderstand Me.”

But no one could replace Ronnie.

But the Skynyrd legend could not be kept down. Ultimately the band was reformed with Ronnie’s brother Johnny as lead vocalist, and over time the original players came and went, and then they ultimately passed away.

It’s not like Gary Rossington’s death is a shock. He had so many health problems, it seemed inevitable, unlike the surprise of David Lindley’s death.

But if every original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd is dead…

Today’s Skynyrd is a tribute act. But it’s not only Skynyrd, so many of the classic rock acts feature only an original or two. You know who the new players are, they’re smooth-skinned, they’re not ragged and haggard, they’re YOUNG!

But the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd is still young. Doesn’t sound dated. Sounds as fresh as the seventies, when rock ruled the world, when we thought it could never die.

Skynyrd was not background. It wasn’t the soundtrack to a video game. The band and its music stood alone. That was enough. No brand extensions were necessary. Ronnie Van Zant’s identity, the band’s image was enough. Long after all the perfumes and other chozzerai the “musicians” of today are purveying is gone, they’ll still be playing Skynyrd music.

You see our music wasn’t momentary, it was FOREVER!

And a good portion still is.

But you can only really get the hit by listening to the records. Like Journey… Arnel does a good job imitating Steve Perry, but he’s not Steve Perry. No one else could be Steve Perry. And no one else could be Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington. Without them, without either of them, it’s not Skynyrd. A band. Self-contained. Living the life we all wanted to. The dream was to go on the road, at least go backstage, just to touch, to be in the presence of these giants.

So it’s the end of an era, and those of us still here are left with this empty feeling. We knew we were gonna die, but not our heroes, not the musicians, if they made it past twenty seven, they were here forever.

David Bowie? Glenn Frey? Anomalies.

But David Lindley was 78, and you might think that’s young, but pray you’ll get there, it’s quite an achievement.

And Gary Rossington was only 71. He was born in the fifties, like that old Police song, like me.

We’re being taken off the field. One by one. But it’s getting faster, and will get faster still. To the point where there will be little hoopla, to the point it will be de rigueur.

But if you were there, if you lived through it, if you broke the shinkwrap on these records and dropped the needle…you’ll never forget. When you spun records day and night, when every show sold out. When if you weren’t there, you’d have to wait a whole ‘nother year.

I mean every member of Lynyrd Skynyrd? They all were cut down? I mean the plane crash was horrible, I remember hearing the news and feeling the emptiness.

But there were some survivors.

And now those guys are gone.

Who will carry on the tradition? Who will clue in the young ‘uns?

At least we have the records to keep the dream alive. And in the case of Lynyrd Skynyrd, that’s enough.

https://spoti.fi/3JfzmQB

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