In Mourning on a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

With apologies to author Judith Viorst for stealing her phrase, it has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad stretch of days in an what has been an unrelentingly lousy year thus far. Just when a momentary respite from the unending horrid, vile, appalling, sickening, disgusting current events is desperately needed, there's the news that Sly Stone and Brian Wilson, two GIANTS, innovative composer/arranger/performer/bandeaders gifted in leading one's heart, soul and consciousness to a better place, passed within the same 48 hours. . . WHAT? THAT CAN'T BE!





At least Sly lived long enough to finish his memoirs and receive rousing recognition from music fans and prominent musicians in the last decade of his life.



Sly Stone, a brilliant musician and arranger who's on the funk Mount Rushmore with James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, George Clinton and Prince (wonder if Prince met Sly), sure made the rounds in his heydey. His importance cannot be overstated. Must buy this release of a set Sly and his first version of The Family Stone performed in my old stomping grounds, Redwood City, CA. Sly was already a bonafide Bay Area celebrity from his successful stints as a deejay on KSOL and KDIA.



Sly & The Family Stone, featuring Larry Graham (electric bass), Cynthia Robinson (trumpet), Rose Stone (keyboards, vocals), Freddie Stone (electric guitar), Greg Arrico (drums) and Jerry Martini (saxophones), were a devastating powerhouse band from the git-go.



Here's Sly with Dick Cavett.



And David Letterman. . .



Sly & The Family Stone were inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993 at long last - and that was overdue. Sly makes an appearance at the end of the clip, following his bandmates, including the outstanding vocalist-bandleader-songwriter-bassist Larry Graham.



Can't wait until Questlove's documentary Sly Lives! aka The Burden Of Black Genius is available on Blu-ray.



As all who have seen the fantastic Summer Of Soul can attest, Questlove is a superlative documentary filmmaker.



This music aficionado's favorite Sly record? The 1973 album FRESH, which presents a stripped-down yet ingenious version of the essential sound, minimalistic and beautiful.





Another composer/pianist/arranger/bandleader of astounding abilities was Brian Wilson, the master of symphonic pop. While I knew he was seriously ill and that Brian's wife Melinda passed last year, this still came as a shock.



Indeed, when heard on headphones, the "pocket symphonies" on the original SMILE sessions can be quite astonishing.



After The Beach Boys hit a lengthy stretch of creative stagnation following the departure of Carl Wilson and the untimely, tragic passing of Dennis Wilson, Brian quite fortunately got to enjoy an extended comeback in the 1990's and oughts, backed by The Wondermints (Darian Sahanaja, Mike D'Amico, Probyn Gregory and the late Nick Walusko), percussionist Nelson Bragg, multi-instrumentalist Paul von Mertens and the late, great Beach Boys tours veteran Geoffrey Foskett.



In this clip, Brian's pal Sir Paul McCartney inducted him into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.



Brian worked with his fellow composer Burt Bacharach.



Much enjoy this tune Brian and Burt wrote together.



Here's a documentary, Pet Stories, about the making of Pet Sounds, which, along with the 1966-1967 Smile sessions, remains this music fan's favorite Brian Wilson/Beach Boys album.



Pet Stories could only be equalled by the following, Brian Wilson & The Story Of Smile.



AND, of course, Smile itself, as performed by Brian and The Wondermints.



ALL collaborations between Brian and songwriter/arranger Van Dyke Parks, The Smile Sessions, Brian Wilson Presents Smile and Brian's appearances on Van Dyke's albums such as Orange Crate Art are must-listening!

Much enjoy the interviews in which Brian talks music!



In closing, this blogger got a chance to meet Brian and his bandmate and the aforementioned "CEO of falsetto" Geoff Foskett at a record signing in San Francisco, made sure to tell him that his music got me through tough times. Brian's response: a smile and "thanks, man!"

Unfortunately, I never got to see Sly Stone in concert - he retired right before I started seeing tons of live music performances - or meet him. Sly did occasionally do interviews, but one would imagine that due to the many bad things that happened to him and individuals who did him wrong over the decades, perhaps he'd be a tad reticent. Thankfully, Sly's three children did a great deal to assist him. All the thanks in the universe to all the master musicians noted in this post!

June 8 is National Name Your Poison Day!

That's right, there is a National Name Your Poison Day.

That means Support Your Local Bartender, as opposed to Support Your Local Gunfighter and Support Your Local Sheriff.



Now how does National Name Your Poison Day relate to this blog? Well, frankly, it's as good an excuse as any to post a bunch of classic cartoons that feature inebriation, a well as clips of great movie comedians delving into that topic (at least onscreen).

One film that never fails to get me ROFL is Laurel & Hardy in BLOTTO.



In this classic 1930 short, the boys think they're brazenly putting one over on their wives by sneaking out to get smashed on bathtub booze.



The greatest cartoon involving altered states would be. . .



Of course, for this blog, National Name Your Poison Day means Prohibition-era cartoons, starting with Fleischer Studios.



Felix the Cat stars in one of the very best in that mind-bending genre. Otto Messmer and crew always deliver the goods - and producer/promoter Pat Sullivan very likely was stone drunk somewhere during the making of this cartoon.



Hands-down, this writer's favorite of all the early Harmon-Ising Merrie Melodies is YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOIN' (1931). The unabashed inebriates who heckle the cartoon's plucky protagonist, "Piggy," resemble characters from another great early Merrie Melodie, GOOPY GEER (1932).



In WISE QUACKS (1939) just one of many outstanding cartoons directed by Bob Clampett, Daffy Duck is a tad nervous about becoming a father and relieves stress by getting hammered on "corn juice." It creatively re-uses segments from the brilliant 1936 Looney Tune directed by Frank Tashlin cartoon, PORKY'S POULTRY PLANT and, as is the case with Clampett's crew, animated with a certain crazed glee. This review by the gang at Anthony's Animation Talk gets into the nuances.



Yes, even dogs get obliterated in Columbia cartoons from both the Charles Mintz and Screen Gems studios and dont ask how Rover got blitzed on local anesthetic in the following opus. If it's jokes about hallucinations and dangerous levels of inebriation you want, look no further than the work of director/gagman Sid Marcus!





Is it possible to make an entire cartoon about a cat who gets wasted on pickled herring? Yes. That might not be a good idea, but it's possible.



Are there any cartoons for National Name Your Poison Day that don't involve booze? Yes, this way-out 1938 Hugh Harman MGM cartoon, Pipe Dreams.



This "goodie goodie monkeys" opus definitely anticipates the hippie era by almost three decades, especially the scene with the simian trio taking hits off a pipe like Dennis Hopper thirty years later.



What was in that Helz Fire tobacco?



These monkeys act like they're smoking kif!



Any letters between MGM brass and Hugh Harman demanding an explanation for this cartoon must be hilarious - and we all know darn well that Harman ignored them!



Hugh Harman made some wonderful weird cartoons, including all three of the Gothic ones featuring the "goodie goodie monkeys."



In closing, noting that there is a dark side to National Name Your Poison Day, here's the late, great Robin Williams making comedy out of the painful realities of alcoholism and jumping into the flaming center of that volcano (in a definitely NSFW clip).



Sure miss that guy. Damn the horrific illness that killed him.