The 50-A-Day Project: Books 11-20

Well, I failed three times in meeting the 50-A-Day goal. The first time, I just did the math wrong and wound up reading a few pages under 50 rather than, as I had thought, 10 pages over (technically, I read onto a 50th page, but there were a few blank pages in there and I didn't complete the 50th page, so it's a failure). The second time, I ran out of time because I was waiting to meet Pete Seeger, so, you know, some things take priority (though I could've planned better). And the third time, I just ran out of time in the day.

So, I've changed my rules to be 50 pages a day, with the day ending when I go to sleep for the night. There were several nights where I was rushing to get the 50 in before midnight, and probably missing some nuances along the way, so, with the failures already in place and acknowledged, I figured this was the best way to move forward. So, yes, I am a failure, but, really, I don't appreciate you bringing it up, so just get off my back and let's never speak of this again.

I've made it through 5,912 pages of 20 books in 87 days so far, putting me at an average of roughly 68 pages a day. Here are the highlights from books 11 through 20.

Best Fiction Book: Out of Sight by Elmore Leonard
Best Nonfiction Book: The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire by Matt Taibbi
Toughest Read: Disquiet, Please: More Humor Writing from The New Yorker edited by David Remnick and Henry Finder
Easiest Read: The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card by Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson
Number of Books on Loan: 1 (Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson). Thanks, Mike!
Number of Books Given as Gifts: 1 (Disquiet, Please: More Humor Writing from The New Yorker edited by David Remnick and Henry Finder). Thanks, Josh!
Number of Books Signed by the Author: 2 (Out of Sight by Elmore Leonard, Silk Parachutes by John McPhee)
Book That Was Sitting on the Shelf the Longest: Either The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire by Matt Taibbi or The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card by Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson, both of which were worth the wait.

Best Paragraphs:
[from an interview with James Baldwin]

"Let me put it this way: There are so many things I'm not good at. I can't drive a truck. I couldn't run a bank. Well, all right. Other people have to do that. Well, in a way they're responsible to me and I'm responsible to them, you know.
My responsibility to them is to try to tell the truth as I see it--not so much about my private life as about their private lives, you know. So that there is in the world a standard for all of us, which will get you through your trouble. Because your trouble's always coming, you know. And Cadillacs don't get you through it. And neither do psychiatrists, incidentally. All that gets you through it, really, is some faith in life, which is not so easy to achieve."

from P.S.: Further Thoughts From a Lifetime of Listening by Studs Terkel

Book Revku, Vol. 20

Sometimes he is cruel
Often he's funny and smart
A balancing act

The Great Derangement:A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire by Matt Taibbi (270 pp.)

Book Revku, Vol. 19

The reviews were strong
So I thought I'd be dazzled
Alas, I wasn't

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell (316 pp.)

Book Revku, Vol. 18

It was just OK
But it's a fast enough read
That I'll try again

Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson (160 pp.)

Book Revku, Vol. 17

Haven't read the first
But this one seems quite padded
Not enough true laughs

Disquiet, Please: More Humor Writing from The New Yorker, edited by David Remnick and Henry Finder (516 pp.)

Soundtracks I Have Loved: The Blues Brothers

Soundtrack: The Blues Brothers
Year Released: 1980
I Bought It On: Cassette
How Does It Hold Up?: Still not one clunker on the whole thing.

Side 1
1. She Caught The Katy
2. Peter Gunn Theme
3. Gimme Some Lovin'
4. Shake A Tail Feather
5. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
6. The Old Landmark

Side 2
7. Think
8. Theme From Rawhide
9. Minnie The Moocher
10. Sweet Home Chicago
11. Jailhouse Rock

There are other soundtracks I've loved more, but none are as consistently great as the soundtrack to The Blues Brothers. I picked it up sometime toward the end of grammar school (didn't pick it up on the day it was released, because I was 3 and, hence, couldn't likely operate a cassette player), either right after seeing the movie for the first time or maybe even before (certainly before seeing the unedited version, which really sucks the power out of the scene where The Penguin smacks Jake and Elwood around). And it was right around the same time that I bought the Best of the Blues Brothers cassette featuring what quickly became my Absolute Favorite Number-One Song of All Time (Or At Least Until I Own More Than 20 Cassettes), "Rubber Biscuit."

I soon became obsessed with The Blues Brothers, thus adding one more item to the list of Things That Made the Teenage Girl of the Early 1990s Think I Was the Hottest Dude Ever. A lot of guys would have just stopped at putting on an uncomfortable amount of weight and being obsessed with professional wrestling, but I went a step further, declaring my favorite band was a cover band from a decade-old movie. It is this devotion to thoroughness that has served me well throughout my life.

Of course, calling the Blues Brothers a cover band is a little unfair, because, while they didn't do originals and, thus, easily fill the bill of being a cover band, the guys in the cover band--Steve Cropper and Donald "Duck" Dunn of Booker T and the MGs, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, "Blue" Lou Marini, Alan "Mr. Fabulous" Rubin, Tom "Bones" Malone, Willie "Too Big" Hall, and Murphy Dunne (replacing Paul Shaffer in the movie)--were pretty phenomenal. And therein lies the greatness of the Blues Brothers. If Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi have a mediocre band behind them, the whole thing falls flat. But the fact that they've got a top-flight group behind them elevates the project from a well-meaning goof to something worth hearing over 30 years later.

There's not a bad moment on the soundtrack (the closest are, I guess, the "Peter Gunn Theme," "She Caught the Katy," and "Jailhouse Rock," which would easily be the three best songs on any other soundtrack), so it's hard to single out the best moments. But, hey, let's try to at least get the top three in line. And let's go with Ray Charles first.



What? You prefer Aretha? OK. Get some dry white toast and four fried chickens and enjoy this little snippet, which cuts off the song but features all of the fantastic acting chops of Matt "Guitar" Murphy, criminally overlooked by the Academy in 1980.



And long before he played the last song Apollo Creed would ever hear, James Brown established his movie soundtrack cred with "The Old Landmark." It's one of the greatest music scenes in movie history. See the light.



And it's not just the guests that provide all the good stuff on the soundtrack (though I should also give props to Cab Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher"). The opening to the gig at the Palace Hotel Ballroom, "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" (preceded by the non-soundtrack "I Can't Turn You Loose"), is probably the best of those (then again, the closer to the show was pretty good, too).



And, of course, for those denizens of Bob's Country Bunker (shame on you for not letting them finish "Gimme Some Lovin'"), here's your top jam (though you also dug this non-soundtrack number).



The Blues Brothers' legacy has taken some hits over the years (let us mention Blues Brothers 2000 here and never speak of it again), but the soundtrack still stands tall as one of the all-time best. And it led me--and likely many others--to gain a greater appreciation for and love of the blues (kudos also to the criminally soundtrack-less Adventures in Babysitting and Albert Collins for that). So, thanks, Jake, Elwood, and the boys. Your mission from God was a success.

Book Revku, Vol. 16

Being Johnny's kid
Is harder than you might think
She's doing her best

Always Been There: Rosanne Cash, "The List," and the Spirit of Southern Music by Michael Streissguth

Book Revku, Vol. 15

One piece of cardboard
Can make people lose their minds
And spend lots of loot

The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card by Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson (217 pp.)

Book Revku, Vol. 14

It's a fine idea
But it needed a bit more
Still, some good stories

Right by Her Roots: Americana Women and Their Songs by Jewly Hight (204 pp.)

Book Revku, Vol. 13

He brings you right in
And makes it look so easy
It should be a crime

Out of Sight by Elmore Leonard (296 pp.)

What I Liked About February

*The Mummers Show of Shows, Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, NJ
*Todd Snider and Keith Christopher, Club Helsinki, Hudson, NY
*The inaugural Tuesday Night Pizza Party
*Bob Dylan, The Avett Brothers, and Mumford & Sons on the Grammy Awards

*Pecan coconut banana bread French toast, Sweet Sue's, Phoenicia, NY
*Hanging with the Wintringheindls, Oneonta, NY
*Prince, Madison Square Garden, NYC
*The Sunday Blues, Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ

*David Wax Museum, Joe's Pub, NYC
*Harvest pancakes, Amy's Omelette House, Long Branch, NJ
*Margie Obreza Chetney's two-300-game weekend
*The willingness of friends to drive me places