Theme From The Fox

Hello, fellow traveler in this (motorized vehicle of your choice) called life! It's summertime, and living is...well, it's a living. Having only posted sporadically for the longest time, you may be interested to know that my intentions are to resume blogging at the frenetic pace to which you had once been accustomed. The conceit here is that you, the Easily Mused reader, actually do exist. Certain statistics indicate that you do, but I assume nothing. Do me a favor. If you don't exist, get lost. I've got more important things to do than write blog posts for imaginary readers. 

Now that I've cleared out the riff-raff...

It's a season of change here at Easily Mused World Headquarters. Having made discipline a top priority, I am beginning to see some progress with the diet I started a few months ago. I have lost thirty pounds and my health is awesome, aside from some fatigue caused by listening to eight Hugo Montenegro albums in a row. Actually, that's a lie. It's true I won an online auction and received eight Hugo Montenegro albums in the mail, but I've only listened to one of them. 

The reason I can't listen to the other Hugo Montenegro albums at the moment is that the cable that usually connects the phonograph to the home computer speakers has been repurposed to connect an entirely different set of speakers to my laptop, which is sitting on the electric piano in the laundry room that I am converting into a home recording studio in an attempt to escape my status as the Emily Dickinson of songwriters. 

The pop-cultural studies continue, as they must, always. I greatly enjoyed PBS's airing of Carol Burnett: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize. Amy Poehler did a hilarious turn as Carol's much-abused personal assistant Roz. I really love Carol Burnett, but part of me feels as though her phenomenal success has disconnected from us reg'lar folks. It makes me a little sad to think of Carol, sitting in a penthouse somewhere, counting gold bars. However, Carol did insist that a rising young comedienne named Rosemary Watson be given exposure during the telecast, and that was certainly a nice gesture to the young generation. 

Before I received my eight Hugo Montenegro albums, I was the happy recipient of nine Smothers Brothers albums. What is intriguing about their first album At The Purple Onion, aside from the fact that is was not recorded at The Purple Onion at all, is that the record documents the entirety of their act at that time. They had so little material that the second side of their second record, The Two Sides of The Smothers Brothers, consisted of traditional folk songs without the comedic interplay for which they are known. 

YouTube continues to be a treasure trove of obscure delights. To wit, here is 72 minutes of the televised event that drew 21 million viewers, the episode of The Tonight Show which featured the wedding of Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki. It's to Johnny's credit that he treated the ceremony with utmost respect and dignity. 268 of the studio audience tickets that night were reserved for friends and family of the bride and groom. It's obvious that Johnny, Ed, and guests like Florence Henderson and Phyllis Diller were struggling in their attempts to cajole the audience into laughing. Everyone looks so nervous, too. It's fascinating viewing.

More post(s) tomorrow!