Month: February 2016

Points of Ponderation…..Episode 2.16

A semi-regular attempt to address some of life’s minutiae that might otherwise be overlooked…..

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A few thoughts on the sad death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia…
No, I don’t believe he was murdered. However, one can’t blame conspiracy types for atleast pondering the idea. The Obama scaliaAdministration has proven itself to be untrustworthy and vociferous opponents of the kind of traditional American values & Godly principles of which Justice Scalia was such a staunch guardian. Secondly, despite what many of my Republican friends have advocated, I do not think President Obama needs to step aside and let the next President fill the vacancy. The Constitution gives the President the power to nominate someone and so he shall. That being said, it is then up to the Republican majority in Congress to block anyone who would tip the scales of justice to the left. That’s how this is supposed to work. It’s how it’s always worked. Unfortunately, conservatives have absolutely no confidence that Congress will hold up its end of the bargain. If another radical liberal is somehow confirmed then the only chance our nation has to weather the storm is to elect the correct person to The White House in November and hope that President will get an opportunity to swing The Court back in the right direction with as many as three nominations (Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 82 years old, Anthony Kennedy is 79, & Stephen Breyer is 77). The big question is how much damage would be inflicted in the meantime. THAT is why the 2016 Presidential Election is SO important. It is not the economy, it isn’t immigration, it’s not tax policy. Those things are important, but the key to the election is deciding who we trust to fill up to three vacancies on The Supreme Court. Barack Obama is black, and lots of people think he’s cool…but the fact is that the idea that he now has the opportunity to make such a monumental impact on the nation’s highest court is scaring the crap out of people. Think about that. We can’t make that same mistake again.

 

 

Time for a little shameless self-promotion…
Awhile back I had an idea for a March Madness-esque tournament involving movies from the 1980’s (you know…the era of John Hughes, teen angst, The Brat Pack, synthesized theme music, & Tom Cruise before he lost his damn mind) called 80s Movie Mania. I published the intro not long ago and there are some quick polls that need votes (as there will be throughout the process). So if this is your first visit to The Manoverse or if you’re someone who only occasionally pops in and may have missed that introduction please take a gander and cast some votes. I really want The Manofesto to be interactive and this is a fun way to get involved. Thanks in advance.

 

 

jebPart of me feels bad for Jeb Bush. He seems like a good guy, and by most accounts he was a fine governor in Florida. His downfall was twofold…bad timing & being third. Let me explain. In almost any other election in American history Donald Trump would be seen as a fringe candidate and his run wouldn’t have lasted more than a few months. But in 2016 people are SO fed up with politics as usual and “the establishment” that being an outsider, thinking outside the box, & being non-PC really resonates with the masses. Couple that with Trump’s deep pockets and his brash attitude (a quality celebrated now rather than shunned as it would have been in the old days) and you’ve got a formidable entity that is difficult to defeat. Secondly, Jeb Bush is following in the footsteps of both his father and brother…one a former VP & one term President who people like but doesn’t necessarily stand out as being one of our best leaders, and the other a recent President who received much harsh criticism & derision (whether it was justified or not is a legitimate argument). A Bush has been President or Vice President 20 out of the past 36 years. In a political climate where being amongst the Washington insider elite is seen as such a negative Jeb’s last name was an inescapable albatross…fair or unfair.

 

 

Dear writers of The Big Bang Theory:
I love your show…have since Day 1. I appreciate how you have developed the characters over the years. Leonard & Penny are now p1a married couple and Penny has grown from a blonde bimbo with a pipe dream of becoming an actress to a p4young professional with a solid job. Howard Wolowitz has went from a lecherous horndog to expecting a child with his lovely wife Bernadette. Raj has had some romantic ups & downs but atleast now he is able to talk to women. The inexplicable romance of Sheldon & Amy has blossomed and both have become more at ease interacting with other human beings. The fact that TBBT is in its 9th season but still gets fantastic ratings and most fans have not expressed any significant fatigue or desire to move on from the show is remarkable. However…having said all of that…I do have a bone to pick. I understand that TBBT is a sitcom and alcoholism probably isn’t a subject y’all want to take on. That’s understandable because alcoholism isn’t funny. So, why then does Penny…a 30 year old woman…have such an obvious drinking problem?? Why is she constantly drinking alcohol, talking about drinking alcohol, or joking around about alcohol?? I repeat…it’s not funny. 18-22 year olds who drink a lot are fodder for comedy because they are college students (or atleast in that demo). 30+ year olds that are still getting wasted on a regular basis are just kind of sad & pathetic. Drunk Sheldon Cooper (even though he is in his 30s) is amusing because we know that he didn’t have a normal p2childhood or youth and doesn’t really grasp the concept of partying like most young adults have done at p3one time or another. But I can count one hand the number of episodes in nine years where Sheldon became intoxicated, whereas Penny drinks wine and makes some kind of smartass remark about getting drunk in nearly every episode. It’s almost tragic and needs to stop. Come on folks…you’ve proven you can do better.

Winning & Musing: Post-Super Bowl 50 Thoughts

Greetings sports fans. Let me first apologize for an abrupt & unforeseen ending to our Pigskin Picks of Profundity. Your humble Potentate of Profundity had two surgeries in November and spent a couple of months in the hospital, so things here in The Manoverse were unfortunately but necessarily backburnered. But now I’m back and ready to talk some sports. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 
manningCongratulations to the Denver Broncos, winners of Super Bowl 50. I had my doubts going into the game, but was pleasantly surprised. It is nice to see Peyton Manning go out on top. Most athletes don’t get that opportunity. I realize that he hasn’t officially announced his retirement yet, but it’s only a matter of time. The Broncos have Brock Osweiler waiting in the wings and I can’t see any other team signing Manning, who is half the QB he used to be. There isn’t any upside to playing another year, especially when he has the opportunity to retire as a Super Bowl Champion.

 

 

 

Lady Gaga has got some pipes, a fact that I recognized long ago. When she drops the outrageous act and just sings it can be quite gagaenjoyable, so I was cool with her singing the national anthem. However, I must point out that her stylist did her no favors. Was that look supposed to be some kind of tribute to David Bowie??

 

 

 

bdfThe old adage is that “defense wins championships”, and no game in recent memory proved that more than Super Bowl 50. Let’s be honest…Manning had very little to do with his team’s victory. Neither offense was impressive. It was the Broncos’ relentless pursuit of Carolina QB Cam Newton that secured the victory. It wasn’t the most exciting game to watch for sure, but kudos to Denver defensive coordinator Wade Phillips for conceiving a plan that worked to perfection. Phillips has been a mediocre head coach more than once and is the perfect example that sometimes knowing one’s role and understanding your limitations isn’t a bad thing.

 

 

 

Speaking of Newton…
Okay, I know that a Denver player was being interviewed (rather loudly) during Newton’s abbreviated post-game press conference and that player bragging about how they’d stymied the Panthers’ offense may have upset Newton. But that’s still not a good enough excuse to pout like a kindergartner whose Mommy didn’t buy the toy he wanted and then end the press conference after a couple of questions. Cam Newton has a track record of being an immature sore loser, and that behavior reared its ugly camhead again on football’s biggest stage. Dozens of star players & coaches have lost the Super Bowl and had to do interviews after the loss, but I can’t ever remember any of them acting so childishly. I know losing sucks, and I can’t imagine how much of a kick in the ‘nads it is to lose The Super Bowl. However, Cam Newton is going to have to learn to suck it up and be a man. My understanding is that he is a good-hearted & charitable guy who does a lot for his community, especially kids. That being said, it took about five minutes on Sunday for him to lose a lot of the respect people had for him, and he’s going to have to earn it back. I suspect that the Carolina Panthers are going to be a good football team for the next several years and may find themselves in this spotlight again eventually. If that happens I hope that Cam Newton…win or lose…will show us all a better version of himself.

 

 

 

A few random thoughts about Super Bowl 50’s commercials:
• Is it really a good idea for The Incredible Hulk to get all caffeined up on Coca-Cola??
• I’ll probably never drink a Mountain Dew Kickstart (whatever that is), but I’m totally on board with PuppyMonkeyBabies, which I find much less creepy than Super Bowl Babies.
• Peyton Manning’s random plug for Budweiser during his post-game interview was much more memorable than the commercials that they probably paid an arm & a leg for.
• Dachsunds (aka weiner dogs) selling Heinz ketchup?? Okay…I guess.
• I don’t care how hard they sell the notion…a Prius will never be cool. An Audi, on the other hand, is very cool.
• I still don’t understand what an Amazon Echo is.
• Jeff Goldblum singing the theme song from The Jeffersons is mildly amusing, even if I don’t recall which company the ad was for.
• I don’t know which is more entertaining…the fact that there was a Super Bowl commercial for Mexican avocadoes, the comforting thought that Scott Baio is alive and earning a paycheck, or that the producers of the spot were obviously fans of The Last Starfighter (or maybe the Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars).

 

 

 

Introducing all previous Super Bowl MVP’s was a nice touch. Kudos NFL.

 

 
halftimeI only half paid attention to the halftime show, so I wasn’t immediately offended by the alleged political message within Beyonce’s performance. I was more offended that the powers-that-be made Coldplay the stars of the show and then at some stage in the process realized that if one looks up the term mediocrity in the rock n’ roll dictionary there is a picture of Coldplay, alongside about a half dozen other random acts that look & sound the same. The producers were then forced to bring in Beyonce & Bruno Mars, two of the more popular halftime acts from recent Super Bowls. It smelled of pure desperation. On top of that the performance was average at best. I don’t really care about the political rhetoric because I doubt if 95% of the audience even understood the point.

80’s Movie Mania: An Introduction

80sCowabunga dudes!! Citizens of The Manoverse should know your Humble Potentate of Profundity pretty well by now, and two things you should have figured out are that I am a) a movie buff and b) a child of the 80’s. So I began pondering…what are the films from that decade that I enjoy?? Which ones are considered the best by the masses?? Which ones may be a bit overlooked or completely forgotten with the passage of time?? This train of thought sparked an idea: a March Madness-like tournament to decide the ultimate 80’s movie!!

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80s2Now I must first set a few ground rules. Contrary to what one may believe, the 1980’s produced a plethora of memorable films. There were some critical darlings of course, and then there were a number of movies that may not have been “good” in the traditional sense but have just the right…je ne sais quoi…for inclusion in this competition. In order to pare down the pool of entrants I was forced to make some editorial choices. First of all…no sports films. I have already given love to Raging Bull, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, Caddyshack, & Vision Quest on a previous occasion, so in the interest of fairness I am not including them here. Secondly…and this is a big one…no trilogies. I am of the opinion that film trilogies should be considered as80s3 one entity, and I don’t think it is fair to include such juggernauts against single entity competition. Plus, the Star Wars trilogy (2/3 of which was made in the 80’s) and the Back to the Future trilogy are so awesome that they’d probably run away with this thing, so why not make it just a bit more interesting?? As you may recall, I think of series differently, so anything with 4 or more films is fair game, although generally it’s hard to beat the original (there are exceptions).

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80s4Even with those limitations in place I couldn’t narrow the field to 64, so I’m going to ask for some help from y’all. There are a dozen “vote-ins” pitting two films of some similarity head-to-head. Please click on your choice. I am going to wait for atleast a week and hope to get 10 or more votes on each of these, with the winners moving on to the tournament. Tell your friends!! Let’s grow The Manoverse and have some fun doing it!!

 

 

 

For about 5 minutes in the 80’s Steve Guttenberg was one of the bigger movie stars around. Lately though he’s kind of fallen off the face of the Earth, with his last notable role coming in…the mid-90’s if I’m being generous. However, we’ll always have these two Guttenberg gems. Police Academy spawned about a bazillion crappy sequels, but the original was hilariously stupid (and I mean that as a compliment). Three Men & A Baby had Guttenberg starring alongside Tom Selleck and Ted Danson as bachelors suddenly given the task of caring for an infant.

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Michael Keaton is still one of the best in the business, but these days he wants to win awards and be taken seriously as an actor. I think I liked him better when he was making lightweight yet rather funny comedies. Mr. Mom is a role reversal kind of deal (atleast it was unique in the early 80’s) where Keaton becomes a stay-at-home father while his wife (portrayed by the lovely Teri Garr) tries to climb the corporate ladder. Gung Ho has Keaton as an auto executive trying to keep his Pennsylvania plant from being shut down by its Japanese owners. In Night Shift Keaton co-stars with Henry Winkler (Fonzie from Happy Days) and pre-Cheers Shelley Long as a NY City morgue employee who uses his workplace as a front for a prostitution ring,

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Neil Simon is best known for his award winning plays, but several of those stage productions have been made into movies. This head-to-head battle pits 2/3 of the “Eugene Trilogy” against one another. It is said that the character of Eugene Jerome is an autobiographical representation of Simon and his youth in Brooklyn during The Great Depression. In Brighton Beach Memoirs Eugene (portrayed by Jonathan Silverman) is a teenager dealing with the ups & downs of family life. In Biloxi Blues Eugene (portrayed by Matthew Broderick) has been drafted into the Army near the end of World War II and endures basic training in Mississippi.

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Only one police dog shall make it into the tournament…which one will it be?? Will you choose Jerry Lee, a german shepherd that helps Jim Belushi escape a drug kingpin?? Or do you prefer Hooch, a French mastiff that aids Tom Hanks in bringing down…well…another drug lord??

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I’m a big fan of comedy, but within the genre there are different kinds of comedy. Airplane! is a spoof of dramatic disaster flicks and has plenty of sight gags and fun wordplay. It takes multiple viewings to really consume all the goodness the film contains. This Is Spinal Tap gave birth to the mockumentary…a movie that is presented as a documentary, usually in hilarious fashion.

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Dragnet isn’t strictly a spoof, but it takes the old 1960’s TV show and turns it into a comedic parody starring Dan Aykroyd & Tom Hanks. The Naked Gun is a spoof of police procedurals based on a 1982 TV show called Police Squad that lasted only 6 episodes.

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Tom Cruise did Cocktail immediately after Top Gun and just before Rain Man. He stars as an ambitious young man who is bartending to put himself thru college on the way to fulfilling his dreams. As usual a woman comes along and complicates things. Tom Hanks did Bachelor Party the same year he starred in Splash and four years before Big would really solidify his career. The title pretty much says it all, and its as funny as one would expect.

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Films in the 1980’s oftentimes chronicled young men’s dogged chase of nookie, a theme that would continue to be popular into the 90’s and beyond. Porky’s is the story of a group of high schoolers in 1950’s Florida and their…misadventures. My Tutor is a bit more…subtle…in telling the story of a wealthy young man’s need to pass an exam in French to get into Yale. His father hires a beautiful female tutor and…well…the lad gets an education in more than just French.

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I’ve never been much of a gamer, but the dudes in these films sure are. In War Games a precocious high school computer enthusiast (i.e. hacker) inadvertently starts WWIII. In The Last Starfighter a young man finds out the game he loves is real when he is whisked away to outer space to join the battle.

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Hollywood likes to promote the idea that war is like sports…a game for young, good looking people. In Iron Eagle Lou Gosset Jr. leads a ragtag group of teenagers into a battle to rescue one of the youngster’s fathers, an Air Force pilot that has been captured by Arabs. Red Dawn, the story of high schoolers who fight back when their Colorado town is invaded by Russians, has a more well-known cast, including Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey, & C. Thomas Howell.

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Molly Ringwald was an 80’s It Girl, but I can only allow one of these two films into the tournament. In Sixteen Candles Ringwald plays a girl whose family forgets her 16th birthday amidst the chaos of her older sister’s wedding. Pretty in Pink has Ringwald in the middle of a love triangle and dealing with other typical high school issues.

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High school geeks were a staple of 80’s classics. In Teen Wolf Michael J. Fox plays an average teenager who suddenly becomes the cool guy at school when he discovers an ability to transform into a werewolf. Weird Science is about two young nerds who use technology to create the perfect woman.

Points of Ponderation…..Episode 1.16

A semi-regular attempt to address some of life’s minutiae that might otherwise be overlooked…..

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FX just aired Part 1 of a ten part miniseries called American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson, and I must say that I am ojhooked. As someone old enough to have lived thru the sordid saga (I watched the infamous Bronco chase at a favorite college watering hole with friends and may or may not have been somewhat inebriated) I’m interested to see how a fictional account of what was as dramatic of a real life tale as we’ve seen plays out over the next couple of months. I suppose it is kind of a macabre trip down memory lane, but after the first episode my initial reaction is that the cast (headlined by John Travolta & Cuba Gooding Jr.) is terrific and the story is well-written, although given the fact that the actual events were so…theatrical…it would seem difficult to screw it up too badly. For those that may be too young to vividly recall the Simpson case this show will be a great history lesson about the birth of reality TV and the beginning of our cultural descent into the abyss of voyeuristic mediocrity.

 

 

After the recent Hawkeye Cauci it is apparent that the race for the Republican nomination for President is down to three viabletrio candidates: Cruz, Trump, & Rubio. Oh I suppose one or two others might sneak back into the mix if they do well in New Hampshire, but ultimately I believe one of these three will be the nominee, and I’m okay with that. None are perfect but I can live with any of them. Trump has to have learned a lesson after skipping the last debate…I do believe it cost him votes. Rubio scares me a little on the immigration issue, but he appears to be somewhat more palatable to those bothered by the abrasiveness of his opponents. Cruz just needs to keep doing what he’s doing. He’s the solid conservative amongst the crowd and his message resonates when he receives a fair opportunity to convey it properly.

 

 

smithI haven’t paid much attention to The Oscars since Billy Crystal was hosting and Titanic won Best Picture. That was almost 20 years ago. But quite honestly I think the recent controversy about the show’s lack of “diversity” in its award nominations is a bunch of poppycock. I don’t care whether you’re white, black, Hispanic, male, female, gay, straight, or whatever else…just make good movies. The biggest problem with The Oscars is that they too often give recognition to films that average moviegoers in flyover country just don’t care about. Right now at my local theater Dirty Grandpa and Kung Fu Panda 3 are playing, as is Academy Award nominee The Revenant. Regardless of what critics say I’m betting that the former two movies end up making oscar2more money than the latter. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with entertainment. As a football fan I don’t deny that concussions are an issue, but I have no desire to go see Will Smith berate me about the issue for two hours on the big screen. I don’t dislike Smith because he’s black…I dislike the fact that his career choices have sucked for most of the past two decades. It really is that simple.

 

 

hillaryEvery time I see Hillary Clinton on TV it’s a nails on a chalkboard moment. Her obnoxious screeching is sanders2horrendous. In listening to what she says I don’t understand how anyone with more than a grade school education could even consider casting their vote for her. I’m no fan of Bernie Sanders, but the major difference between he & Hillary is that Sanders openly admits that he’s a socialist. She should be extremely embarrassed that she could do no better than what was essentially a tie in Iowa. Part of me thinks it’d be hysterically funny if Hillary were to lose the nomination AGAIN to someone that a year ago no one had ever heard of. Of course the other part of me realizes that the first time that happened we got stuck with Barack Hussein Obama for 8 years.

 

 

Let me take a moment to highly recommend a 2013 documentary called History of the Eagles. It is a must see for any fan of the eagles3legendary 70’s rock band. I can’t believe I hadn’t heard about or watched it before now. CNN was going to show it…presumably in the wake of Glenn Frey’s death…but it got pre-empted by…I don’t know…something they deemed more important. So I ended up checking it out on Netflix. Broken into two parts and coming in at about 4 hours it is an evening well spent. There is plenty of archival footage, snippets of home movies, and interviews with every band member as well as various associates. Some may say that, since Frey & Henley had a lot of control over the finished product, it is a bit sanitized and glosses over some of the more troublesome issues the group had over the years, and that is likely a fair assessment. However, it is probably just as well, especially considering Frey’s untimely passing. It is a shame that he & former bandmate Don Felder never reconciled, but maybe Henley will now get down off his high horse and make peace with Felder. Joe Walsh is the most impressive of them all in interviews. He’s had a long, tough road and made plenty of mistakes, but now appears to be clean & sober and, more importantly, introspectively grateful to have been provided an opportunity for a healthier life. If you like The Eagles you must check it out, and even if you aren’t a huge fan but just enjoy a really good documentary it is worth your time.

Superfluous 7 – Favorite Songs By The Eagles

eagles1Typically I don’t comment on the deaths of celebrities except for the RIP section of the annual Sammy Awards, a segment that was initially meant to spoof the Oscars “In Memoriam” but has become a part of the “show” that I take rather seriously because I feel like the people noted have earned atleast that small token of recognition. However, there have been occasions where I felt compelled to make additional observations (Whitney Houston & Robin Williams are two such examples), and now we have another.

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A couple of weeks ago we lost Glenn Frey…guitarist, lead singer, & co-founder of freylegendary 1970’s supergroup The Eagles. Were they a rock band?? Country?? Rockabilly?? R&B?? Folk?? Yes…all of the above. The Eagles embodied the sound of an era…mostly mellow, occasionally rockin’, with sublime harmonies and superbly written songs that paint pictures & tell stories. It’s a level of quality stratospheres above almost everything that music lovers are exposed to nowadays on the radio. I really liked The Eagles as a kid growing up in the late 70’s & into the 80’s, and was beyond blessed to see them live in Columbus, OH in 1994. I am especially glad to have gotten that opportunity now that Frey is gone because no matter what the remaining members or former members of the band do in the future it won’t be the same. Rest in peace Mr. Frey…you did good and brought much joy into the world.

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eagles2Unlike previous & future editions of Superfluous 7 I am not numbering or ranking these selections in any particular order. To me and millions of other fans there is no such thing as a bad Eagles song, and among the bigger hits it is nearly impossible to choose one over another. These just happen to be a handful that I am especially fond of for various reasons. The great thing about music is that even when performers are no longer with us the fruits of their genius remain for the masses to appreciate for decades to come. It is with that comforting thought in mind that I wistfully present…..

 

 

from the home office in Winslow, AZ…..

 

 

 

The Superfluous 7 Favorite Eagles Songs

 

 

Best of My Love
The 1974 album On the Border was The Eagles third record and the first with guitarist Don Felder. Felder replaced Bernie Leadon because the band wanted to skew more in a rock-centric direction rather than a country-ish vibe. This song, which tells the story of a failed relationship, was co-written by Henley, Frey, & their friend JD Souther and became The Eagles’ first #1 hit song.

 

Hotel California
What can I say about Hotel California?? It is arguably one of the best and most famous rock songs ever written. The title track on the band’s fifth (and best-selling, excluding greatest hits compilations) album came from a guitar riff conceived by Felder, with the lyrics penned by Henley & Frey. What do those lyrics symbolize?? There has been much speculation…everything from the church of Satan to being institutionalized in a mental ward to drug addiction…but Henley has downplayed all of that, indicating that it is simply allegorical social commentary about what was then modern culture. Regardless of its meaning, the fact is that Hotel California is an awesome song with memorable words and outstanding musicality.

 

Peaceful Easy Feeling
I’m not sure if it’s a song that tells a story as much as it evokes a mood. It was written by a man named Jack Tempchin, who would go on to co-write Glenn Frey’s handful of solo hits in the 80’s and also wrote Swayin’ to the Music (Slow Dancing), a Top 10 song for Johnny Rivers in 1977. Peaceful Easy Feeling appeared on The Eagles’ 1972 self-titled debut album and has become one of the band’s signature tunes.

 

Saturday Night
Co-written by all four members of the original band (Frey, Henley, Meisner, & Leadon), this is an oft overlooked song on their second album Desperado. There are 2 or 3 more well-known tunes on the record (including the titular title track), but I really like this one. It’s a typical story from the viewpoint of a lonely guy reminiscing about the gal that got away and features the soothing harmony for which The Eagles are famous, as well as Bernie Leadon playing the mandolin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7FgtqYbhWU

 

Seven Bridges Road
Here we have a song that The Eagles never released on any of their studio albums. It is a cover tune originally written & recorded by a man named Steve Young (no…not the NFL Hall-of-Fame quarterback) in 1969 about an actual road in Montgomery, AL. The Eagles would use it to warm up before their concerts in the 70’s and it was often the show opening tune. I first became aware of the song in college when my fraternity performed it during the annual Greek Sing competition. It is performed “a capella” with a bit of acoustic guitar accompaniment and features the fantastic harmony that the band did so well.

 

Take it Easy
This was the band’s first single, released in 1972 on their debut album. Co-written by Frey and good friend Jackson Browne, it champions a lifestyle philosophy of chilling out and not taking everything so seriously. A music critic for Rolling Stone wrote that Take It Easy “has everything: danceable rhythm, catchy, winding melody, intelligent, affirmative lyrics, a progressively powerful arrangement mixing electric guitar and banjo, and a crisp vocal, with vibrant four-part harmony at just the right moments for maximum dramatic effect.” I concur.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfeNhwnO8hw

 

The Sad Café
Whether it is a bar, a friend’s house, or some other location, we all have fond memories of certain hangouts of our youth. Thoughts of such venues recall a perceived simpler time when all of our hopes & dreams were in front of us, nothing seemed impossible, and we had big plans to conquer the world. This song speaks of such a place and also alludes to the idea that oftentimes those idealistic visions of grandeur don’t come to fruition. It was co-written by Frey, Henley, Souther, & Joe Walsh and has a hauntingly beautiful saxophone solo at the end. The Sad Café was on the final Eagles album before their 14 year hiatus, The Long Run, which contains a few more celebrated tunes, but this is an underrated gem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnzsk-q7yAk