The Oppenheimer Repor 2/17/14

Photo from the D.Jordan Taylor Collection

At present there are two celebrities who I think are becoming a little bit overexposed. The first one is Morgan Freeman, or more specifically, Morgan Freeman’s voice. Don’t get me wrong, I like Morgan Freeman. I like his cool demeanor, I like his distinctive voice, and I’ve enjoyed almost every role I’ve seen him play. That said, his voice is in about every other commercial voice over I hear on television, and it’s enough already. Shauna indicated on Facebook that she “liked” his voice, and now, every day, she gets an unwanted post of a quote wherein she is to imagine Freeman’s voice reciting it (perhaps from movies he’s been in, I don’t know). I’m serious! Josh Robert Thompson, the voice of the wisecracking gay robot, Geoff Peterson, on Craig Ferguson’s Late, Late Show (which I enjoy), does a great impression of Freeman and occasionally says wildly inappropriate things using Freeman’s voice. The other celebrity of whom I could do with a little less is Sir Paul McCartney. I am a huge fan of the Beatles, and I mean no disrespect to Paul, or the band, or to their music. It just seems like McCartney is everywhere performing these days, and while he was a great singer, I’m afraid he’s not always firing on all cylinders anymore. I don’t want to see my icons decaying in public. Also, it’s a little creepy seeing an almost 70 year old man singing “She was just seventeen.” Can you say “statutory rape?” Ditto Jagger. I love some of the music of The Rolling Stones, but Mick Jagger is beginning to annoy me. Onstage he struts around like a rooster, and aging poultry is not a pretty sight.

Last week marked the 50^th anniversary of the Beatles debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. I just watched the Grammy Salute to The Beatles which I’d recorded last week.  I thought it was very entertaining, and I vaguely remember watching that debut with my sister Jill back in 1964. I was eight. I even remember our clunky Zenith console color TV, with a channel changer that sounded like an automatic weapon firing. I also recall seeing a lot of other artists for the first time on The Ed Sullivan Show. Bands like The Dave Clark Five, The Rolling Stones, The Mamas and the Papas, The Kinks (I think), and The Beach Boys. I like a lot of Beatles songs, and it was interesting to hear some of them covered by contemporary artists in the salute (with varying degrees of success). Lots of celebrity musicians played and sang for the celebration and that was cool. I particularly liked hearing Keith Urban perform Don’t Let Me Down with John Mayer. Great guitar work. Peter Frampton, Joe Walsh, Don Was, Jeff Lynne, Annie Lenox, and more - it was the who’s who of rock ‘n roll. I liked hearing George Harrison’s son Dhani playing along with Joe Walsh and Jeff Lynne on Hear Comes the Sun, because I could hear George’s voice in there somewhere. Brief aside, Yoko’s got some miles on her. I never understood what John saw in her, and I will never forgive her for breaking up the band (oh come on, of course I’m kidding). Sean now looks like a carbon copy of his dad back in the 80’s. McCartney looked pretty good, though I have to agree with Craig Ferguson, who often pokes fun at the aging Beatle’s resemblance to Angela Lansbury (circa Murder That Bitch). Not usually of fan of Ringo’s music, I enjoyed his set. And who doesn’t recognize Yellow Submarine? Shauna asked me what that song is about, and I told her “three and a half minutes.” I mean, come on, what is I am the Walrus about? All I can say is, those boys must have been taking some primo acid.

Final comments on the Sochi Winter Olympics… Short track speed skating is an insane sport. So are most of the snowboarding and skiing events.  Local Canadian slopestyle competitor Dara Howell took home a gold making her hometown (Huntsville is 20 miles from us) proud. I never saw a skier spend so much time skiing backwards. I have tried to embrace curling, I know there is great skill involved, but I’m just not feeling it. Same for the Nordic ski events. The hockey has been impressive and it was fun to see the U.S.A beat Russia in a prolonged nail biter of a shootout. Canada’s team looks strong. It will be interesting to see who wins the gold because there is a lot of strong competition and there’s a long way to gold. Once again, way to go CBC for your excellent coverage.

Paul, you did a great version of Hey Jude in the Grammy salute, let it be your “last waltz.” Somebody go gentle into that good night, please!

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2014 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED