Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to episode 480 of the no-awards winning podcast Sneaky Dragon.
This week: we’ve got it covered; professional leprechaun; bad pizza economy; that vital “Lords of” audience; Goldman/Golding mix-up and apology; Szell/Mengele mix-up and apology; Roy Scheider has a lot to answer for: you figure it out; controversial pop choice; disappointing rainbow; un-American candy box; defending the Chicago dog; DIY fast food; wannabe land baron; bad magic murderer; quintuplet melancholia; controversial pineapple choice; FU C.K.; get a social media person; career low point; it’s natural, but ugh; time has changed us; thoughts on Manhattan; birds vs lions; misdirected creative energy; Christian drek; the unlucky lucky ones; it’s all performative; Dork Shadows – horror noir; hot take: Kolchak is a jerk; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; the Oswald truth; vegetarian vampire; modern values; a load of Sith; Sookie Stackhouse???; sobbing in the sun; unpopular vampire; Uno, Bunny, Bunny, Uno; impeccable Massachussets accent; Australasian; music anger; and, finally, nuts for Brazil.
Thanks for listening.
Question of the Week: What movie or TV show would you like to improve by replacing one cast member?
Sub-question (from Louise): What song makes you cry?
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Ian, rest easy. I don’t remember any time you mixed up William Goldman with William Golding in conversation. But I do think you should also apologize to Henry Golding just in case you mixed him up with Henry Fielding.
Speaking of The Lord of the Flies, that was just one of the miserable novels we had to read in school. If a book was set after a nuclear holocaust or was about a dystopian society, class division, eugenics, or barnyard animals or private school boys behaving badly, we read it. These included: The White Mountains, The Crysalids, 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, Of Mice and Men, The Pearl, and A Separate Peace. I wonder how many students they turned off reading with such a grim curriculum.
Speaking of miserable, “I Dreamed a Dream”, “On My Own” and the many death bed songs from Les Miz can make me cry. But the first pop song that choked me up as a kid was Elton John’s “Daniel.” I’m not sure why. The synth piano and flute sounds are not that sad and the lyrics are not that specific as to what’s up with Daniel and why he’s heading for Spai-ay-ay-een. But if your brother has scars that won’t heal and if his eyes have died…something bad must’ve happened to him and if you miss him so much, I feel for you. Apparently Bernie Taupin was inspired to write the lyrics after reading an article about a Vietnam vet, but the vagueness of the lyrics lets you imagine your own melancholy scenario.
I forgot that Flowers For Algernon should be on that list of dismal picks. It was also on the curriculum. What teen doesn’t want to read about medical experimentation that doesn’t go too well?
Hey Ian and David and all!
I have no answer for Question 1. Yet. I’ll keep mulling that one over.
But I did come up with an answer to Question 2. There are two Beatles songs that can still kind of get to me, and if not causing actual tears, they bring a real sense of melancholy. “Eleanor Rigby” is one (which is almost a given, right??). The other is “For No one”. Both from the Revolver album… Fortunately there are a few really delightful peppy tunes on said record that lift one’s spirits right back up! A nice balance. I love that album!
Also, in answer to last week’s favorite vampire question, it took me all this time to come up with mine: 1970’s “Count Yorga, Vampire”! Does anyone remember him??? There was a sequel to this one a year later. Didn’t see that, but somehow I DID see the original and at the theater which makes no sense! Even looking at the trailer now I think my mom wouldn’t have dropped me and friends off to see it when it came out. Must’ve been a friend’s NICE mom who let us go see it. Whatever, I was completely mesmerized by Robert Quarry as Count Yorga. I’d have likely stretched my 12 year old neck out for him!
When I was in elementary school I liked to read a teen magazine “16”. In the later 60’s your Dark Shadows people were always featured in it, as the show was very popular then.
I was not living in the country at that time, so I missed the show’s peak years, but did catch a few in the early 70’s. It’s fun hearing you doing your play by play on the show each week! Seems like a lot of work… taking all those notes for our benefit! Thanks!
Lastly, I’m with you, Louise, on the book choices teachers inflicted on us when I was in school. Many of those you mentioned, I had to read as well. I have to say I did not get one thing out of them. It’s just the truth , and I loved to read. Currently my husband is talking our 13 year old grandson in to reading “Grapes of Wrath”! Grandson is giving it a try, but I have to say, that “Sparks!” and “Sparks Double Dog Dare” loving kid is not really into it so far and he is in the 2nd chapter. What I say is, “Good luck” and “Your Grandpa is crazy!”
Have a great, fun week everybody!
Music can tap powerfully into all kinds of emotions and it isn’t only sad songs that can make me cry. Sometimes I know exactly why this is happening – Kentucky Avenue by Tom Waits is a good example of a song whose lyric and melody gradually build towards a very moving climax. But I’m also a sucker for From a Silver Phial by Gene Clark, even though I haven’t clue what it means.
I also wept – literally wept – pretty much all the way through Mamma Mia the movie. Why? Who knows? Even as it was happening, I was thinking: this is ridiculous! All I can figure is that these insanely catchy songs had implanted themselves in teenage me in a way that enabled me to reconnect with my younger self many years later. I had to really steel myself to watch the sequel. Luckily, however, it was a pile of shit, so that took the edge off.
I think the last time I cried while listening to music was when the remixed / remastered Abbey Road came out. I listened to it from start to finish (yes, even Maxwell and Octopus) and got caught out all over again by just how uplifting the high points are, particularly the closing section of the medley, from Golden Slumbers to The End.
Just in time I hope! Texas has been frozen solid from border to border and we just were restored to full power last night and the internet started working today. We’re not all that prepared for sub-zero temps (-2 degrees F) and snow that doesn’t melt within a 24 hour period, so the power grid for the entire state was regulating controlled blackouts since Monday. The end is in sight though, it should be in the 60’s by Saturday.
Not to disparage Jack Black once again, but I thought he just didn’t fit the image for his role in 2005’s “King Kong.” Seeing him cast alongside Naomi Watts and Adrian Brody, who look like they belong in the 1930’s, just didn’t seem like he was immersed in that time period. Sorry Jack. I suppose I’m attempting to compare him to the magnificent Jeff Bridges in the “King Kong” from 1976, who I think has been great in just about every role he’s been given. I’m a huge fan of Bridges, I hope we have him around for many, many more roles.
Has Sofia Coppola ever been forgiven for her role in “The Godfather Part III”? Wasn’t she the target of that film’s misfortune? Or was it Coppola himself who just wasn’t up to directing a third installment? If I remember correctly, Winona Ryder was originally cast as Mary Corleone along with a whole mess of other production problems, like re-dubbing Sofia Coppola’s voice due to a less than stellar early screening. It’s a good thing she’s chosen the be a director these days, hopefully the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…or the winery. In retrospect, it had to be insanely difficult to maintain the bar set by the previous two Godfather films after a span of 16 years, these two films alone are the gold standard for so many films that followed. And yes, Ian, you need to watch them both if you haven’t already.
Remember “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”? I went with my son Alec, who is my “Mini Me” and loves all the same films and pop culture stuff I do. At the end of the film, when Yondu dies and is being celebrated, they played the Cat Stevens’ song “Father and Son” and I started blubbering like an idiot. It was only made worse by Alec who was concerned about me and whether I was okay. I assured him I was just fine, mine were tears of both pride and joy that he’ll one day experience when he’s a Father. Since then, every time that song pops up on my playlist, my eyes leak all over again like two busted pipes… Powerful stuff from Cat Stevens.
Now back to thawing out my house, family and pets…but not necessarily in that order.
Love Louise’s question, because I’m sure everyone will have interesting answers. I don’t usually cry when emotional song comes on, but the song “Is There Anybody Out There?” by Pink Floyd has made me cry on two separate occasions. Both times it was while listening the The Wall in full, and once was while I was on a train to Paris, très cinématique. The song, for anyone who may not know, its mostly just an acoustic guitar and a small orchestra. It comes after “Hey You” which is a song about someone who feels very disconnected from everyone around him, and solidifies the characters descent into total isolation. I think it’s really the emotions of “Hey You” that make me cry, but “Is There Anybody Out There” gives me room to feel those emotions, y’know?
What I really wanted to talk about was the pineapple crush hate, I am here to proudly proclaim my love of the drink, and I’ll go one step further and say that the grape is my least favorite! I don’t like regular cola though so what do I know.
Hello Sneakers,
I’m not sure if I have a sure-fire, emotionally-inciting tune of choice, but I will say live classical symphony performances have a huge impact and get me pretty teary in person. Last one was a performance of Also Sprach Zarathustra by Strauss at the Disney Concert Hall. Lately, I have been discovering the music of Philip Glass and have found a similar effect just listening at home, particularly anything from ‘Music in Twelve Parts’ or ‘Glassworks.’
With regards to swapping out characters, my mind immediately went to the classic Magnum PI and Murder She Wrote crossover episode. I’ll try and be a bit more snobby, though, and sub out Charlton Heston’s role in ‘Touch of Evil.’ I’ll admit this is not an original opinion, and many film noir fans agree that Ricardo Montalban would have been a much more appropriate role for the lead Mexican attorney in Orson Welles’ creepy, weird 1957 masterpiece. Since it was the 1950’s, however, we got Charlton Heston in blackface **yawn**. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some ‘Omega Man’ or ‘Soylent Green,’ but this performance doesn’t quite stand the test of time.
Lastly, thank you Dave for complimenting the few things I currently have up on instagram last week. I did a social media detox [which I would recommend everybody do by the way] and deleted my old account which had much more work on it. My old account was under the name “Tweed_Smut,” and I got a few shout-out’s on “The Gentlemen of Elegant Leisure.” When you see your cousin next, please tell him RJ/Tweed Smut says hello, and that his podcast is sorely missed in my apartment and I hope they get the band back together once Covid dies down in the future. Such an enjoyable show to listen to on a Saturday afternoon; I never really cared about the cocktails…it was their banter I miss most! 🙁
Celery salt is actually great on avocado! It brings out the flavor or something, I don’t know… that’s what my mom told me, anyway, and it seems to be true.
Songs that make me cry (or at least put a lump in my throat) are fairly common. They tend to sneak up on me. I’ll be singing along in the car and suddenly I’ll get choked up and can’t sing anymore, and half the time I don’t even know why. I’m annoyed that I can’t think of more off the top of my head, but The Girl In The Dirty Shirt by Oasis is one. The message is beautiful – I don’t care who you are or what you have or haven’t done with your life, I just love you for who you are – but Noel Gallagher always puts his unique working class twist on things. Dammit, I’m tearing up just thinking about it.
And another one, appropriately enough, is The Untraditional by Chumbawamba. It was a hidden track on their first purely folky album, A Singsong And A Scrap. There was absolutely no mention of it anywhere in the liner notes, as if it didn’t exist, which is symbolic of the subject matter of the song (gay lovers hiding from the world and the law). The last line gets me every time – and I mean every damn time – “and in some far off place I know that our love may shameless be.”
Speaking of which, here’s my playlist! Now to clarify, I don’t actually think Chumbawamba were necessarily a great band. In fact, their early hardcore punk stuff is nearly unlistenable. But as they developed as musicians and moved through various phases and styles, they made some powerful music. They make me happy and optimistic, even in the darkest of times (they were truly invaluable the last four years). They’re highly political, but not always in the way you’d expect. They tell true human stories and they always find the light in the darkness. The first two songs on the playlist illustrate this perfectly.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmAVXFe3ZVgc9vmmbuWBEPIFVMK1H1b0p
The Dark Shadows of my happily misspent afternoon youth was during 6th grade onward, when it ran just as we made it home from school. There were recess discussions about the series, replacing the fevered examinations comparing the merits of The Addams Family vs The Munsters, which had faded from broadcast rotation by then.
I saved my allowance to buy the TV soundtrack after that and was disappointed that Quentin talked over the 1900-ish tune, “Quentin’s Theme.”
Nevertheless, I saved my post-grad salary until I could find an Edison cylinder phonograph similar to the one played in the series.
My brother and I got a kick out of Dan Curtis’ habit of rarely doing second takes, so if Barnabas called out someone else’s name, or if a cane with hidden sword malfunctioned, well, the actors just had to deal with it.