Walking on the Moon

On this day in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle and became the first men to walk on the surface of the moon (or not, if you’re one of those people who believe The Shining was Stanley Kubrick’s admission of guilt for his part in the faking of the moon landing). To celebrate the anniversary of this momentous occasion, let’s take a look at some depictions of astronauts – both real and fictional – in pop culture.

  • Apollo 13
  • Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Tom Hanks

Apollo 13 kicks off on the night of Armstrong and Aldrin’s moon walk; Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), who orbited the moon for Apollo 8, is having a watch party at his house. Nine months later, Lovell, Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) are on their way to the moon as the crew of Apollo 13. Three days into the mission, disaster strikes: Lovell, Haise and Swigert won’t make it to the moon – and they might not make it home either. Ron Howard (who should have won a Best Director Oscar for this film, not A Beautiful Mind) wows us with the most realistic rendering of space to date (as of 1995, that is), but also crafts an emotionally resonant story of survival. The ending is a foregone conclusion, but Howard still manages to create tension for the audience. And the whole thing is anchored by lovely performances from Hanks and the crew, Ed Harris as Gene Kranz, the sensational Kathleen Quinlan as Marilyn Lovell and a supporting cast of dozens. For its efforts, the cast won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, and the film was nominated for nine Oscars. It is my personal favorite movie on this list.

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick’s bonkers collaboration with Arthur C. Clarke, is arguably the greatest science-fiction film of all time, although reviews were mixed upon its release. Exploring themes of existentialism, human evolution and artificial intelligence, 2001 was praised for its realistic depiction of space life and its cutting-edge special effects (for which Kubrick won the Oscar). But not everyone appreciated the film; at the premiere in Los Angeles, Rock Hudson left early, purportedly asking “What is this bullshit?” on his way out the door. 2001 is an incredible journey through millions of years of evolution, with extended wordless sequences set to classical music. Don’t try to understand it, just sit back and enjoy it; weed is optional but I highly recommend it.

  • From the Earth to the Moon
  • From left, Tony Goldwyn as Neil Armstrong, Cary Elwes as Michael Collins, Bryan Cranston as Buzz Aldrin

From the Earth to the Moon, HBO’s 12-part miniseries about the Apollo space program of the 1960s and 70s, was the brainchild of Tom Hanks. After starring in Apollo 13, Hanks felt the need to live in that world a little longer. Andrew Chaikin’s A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts served as inspiration for the series, which is more like twelve short films; the episodes were directed by ten different people, and each episode has its own distinct point of view. Although the sprawling cast primarily play real people, the narrative is aided by the addition of several fictional characters like Emmett Seaborn (Lane Smith), a Walter Cronkite-esque television reporter. From the Earth to the Moon was nominated for a whopping seventeen Emmy Awards and won three, including Outstanding Miniseries.

  • Moon

The less you know about Moon, Duncan Jones’ brilliant first feature, the better. The role of Sam was written specifically for Sam Rockwell, and Rockwell knocks it out of the park. How was he not nominated for a Best Actor Oscar? Anyway, no spoilers here, just watch this gem already.

  • The Right Stuff

The story of the Mercury space program of the 1950s and early 60s, The Right Stuff was a box-office bomb but one of 1983’s most highly honored films, earning eight Academy Award nominations and winning four Oscars (Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Film Editing). Directed by Philip Kaufman, The Right Stuff was an adaptation of the acclaimed book by Tom Wolfe. Chuck Yeager was on-hand to ensure historical accuracy (although substantial dramatic liberties were taken). The talented cast is headed up by Sam Shepard (as Yeager), Fred Ward (Gus Grissom), Dennis Quaid (Gordon Cooper), Ed Harris (John Glenn) and Scott Glenn (Alan Shepard).

  • The Martian

The Martian, based on Andy Weir’s inventive 2011 novel, finds botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) stranded on Mars alone after he is presumed dead. With his crew on their way back to earth, rescue is literally years away and there’s not enough food to keep him alive for that long. So Watney, in his own words, has to “science the shit out of this”. Damon strikes the right balance between gallows humor and Watney’s will to survive, and the supporting cast is heaven (Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Jessica Chastain, Sean Bean, Kristen Wiig, Donald Glover and Chiwetel Ejiofor, just to name a few). The Martian was a box office and critical success, and was nominated for seven Oscars.

  • Hidden Figures
  • Janelle Monáe, Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer

Hidden Figures contains a lot of inaccuracies (for one thing, NASA facilities desegregated in 1949, twelve years before the events depicted in the film) and it comes off as white savior-ish, but it tells an important story: the black women who worked at NASA and helped make American space flight possible. I just wish the movie had better served those woman – Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson – AND the divine actors playing them (Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe, respectively).

  • SpaceCamp

SpaceCamp was a marketing nightmare: the movie was released five months after the Challenger shuttle explosion (though filming was completed well before), and many felt the film was trying to capitalize on the disaster. SpaceCamp made only about $10 million, well below its budget. But it was a movie that I loved, primarily due to its winning cast – Kate Capshaw, Tom Skerritt, Lea Thompson, Tate Donovan, Larry B. Scott, Kelly Preston and a baby Joaquin Phoenix (who at the time went by the name Leaf). The premise is beyond ridiculous: the campers are allowed inside the space shuttle during a routine test, but the boosters accidentally ignite and NASA is forced to launch the shuttle with five campers and only one actual astronaut (Capshaw’s Andie) on board. But I’ve always believed in exercising a healthy suspension of disbelief; if you can do the same, you’ll enjoy SpaceCamp too.

  • First Man

Expectations were high for First Man, Damien Chazelle’s 2018 biopic of Neil Armstrong. Two years earlier, Chazelle had become the youngest winner of the Best Director Oscar, First Man reteamed him with his La La Land leading man, Ryan Gosling, and Claire Foy (as Janet Armstrong) had just won every possible award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II on Netflix’s The Crown. And while First Man was a commercial disappointment, it’s a lovely film with an incredible cast and knock-your-socks-off visual effects (for which it deservedly won the Oscar).

  • Gravity

One of the most critically acclaimed films of 2013, Gravity is a technical tour de force. Alfonso Cuarón utilized cutting-edge technology to create a hyperrealistic interpretation of space. Sandra Bullock gives the film its heart as Dr. Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on her first space mission. Stone, still reeling from the death of her daughter, soon finds herself alone when space debris irreparably damages the shuttle and kills her fellow crew members. Gravity is less a sci-fi film and more of a survival tale; think Cast Away in space. The film earned a worldwide gross of more than $700 million and was nominated for ten Academy Awards; though 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture, Gravity won the most awards of the evening, including Best Director for Cuarón, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Visual Effects.

  • Armageddon

Armageddon is not a great movie. The script (co-written by J.J. Abrams!) is garbage. There’s zero chemistry between Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler (and don’t get even get me started on the animal cracker love scene). It’s indulgent and over the top in the way that Michael Bay movies are. It’s too long by at least 30 minutes. And it’s so inaccurate that NASA shows the film in management training sessions where new managers are tasked with finding the errors. And why does it have to be so loud? The first time I saw Armageddon, I was annoyed at my then-boyfriend because he vetoed seeing Saving Private Ryan, which had just been released that day (we saw Ryan a couple weeks later). And I had a headache, which the film only exacerbated. I didn’t enjoy it at all. Upon watching it a second time, sans headache, I updated my initial review. It’s still big and loud and dumb, but it’s also entertaining as hell.

This is a great video on how special effects in space movies have evolved over the years, and it touches on several of the films on this list.

Quick Hits: July 18

Content warning: this post contains references to stalking and murder.

  • Inhaler entered the UK album chart at #1 last week with their debut album, It Won’t Always Be Like This. I’ll admit I clicked skeptically when I learned that Inhaler’s lead singer is Elijah Hewson, offspring of Bono (nepotism has no place in music), but these lads are going to be my next obsession. Inhaler is a mix of power pop and dreamy psychedelia, with pounding bass lines and a dash of early 80s synth-pop.
  • Inhaler – Josh Jenkinson, Ryan McMahon, Elijah Hewson, Robert Keating
  • A Quiet Place Part II is now available for streaming on Paramount+. Hubby and I had intended to make it the first movie we saw in the theater since January 2020, but decided to save the money and watch it at home. Anyway, spoiler alert, it was awesome. Millicent Simmonds’ Regan takes center stage and Simmonds makes the most of the opportunity. Cillian Murphy is fantastic as Emmett, a friend of the Abbott family from the before times.
  • The first two episodes of Making the Cut season 2 are now available on Amazon Prime. Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn are an iconic pair, and I’m really enjoying the addition of Jeremy Scott and Winnie Harlow to the judging panel. The designers this season are (for the most part) a diverse and interesting group. Gary’s my favorite so far, based on his look from episode 1.
  • Happy birthday, Margo Martindale! One of the finest character actors of the 21st century (or ever, for that matter), Martindale is equally comfortable in comedy or drama. A Tony nominee for a 2004 revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Martindale won Emmy awards for her performances in Justified and The Americans. She also had a prominent role on one of my all-time favorite shows, Dexter.
  • Dexter
  • The Millers, with Will Arnett
  • Justified
  • A fictionalized Martindale in Bojack Horseman
  • The Americans
  • Rebecca Schaeffer – model, actress and co-star of the CBS comedy My Sister Sam – was murdered on this day in 1989. Robert John Bardo had already been stalking Schaeffer for a few years, and had even attempted (unsuccessfully) to gain access to the My Sister Sam set, when he saw Schaeffer’s sex scene in the 1989 Paul Bartel film, Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. Feeling jealous and rageful, and inspired by Arthur Jackson (would-be assassin of actress Theresa Saldana back in 1982), Bardo showed up at Schaeffer’s home (he’d hired a PI, who’d found her address through the DMV) with a card he’d sent her and her photo. When Schaeffer brushed him off with a “Please take care”, Bardo came back an hour later with a gun, and when Schaeffer opened the door this time, Bardo shot her in the heart. Schaeffer, just 21 years old, was set to audition for a role in The Godfather III the day she died (she was waiting for the script to arrive, and was undoubtedly hoping that’s who was at her door). Bardo received the maximum sentence for his crime – life in prison without the possibility of parole. In the aftermath of Schaeffer’s murder, a federal law was passed to prevent the public from accessing DMV records. In 1990, California became the first state to enact an anti-stalking law. In the intervening years, celebrities such as Madonna and David Letterman have made use of the anti-stalking law to protect themselves and their families.
  • Rebecca Schaeffer with her My Sister Sam co-star, Pam Dawber

Quick Hits: July 15

Content warning: this post contains a reference to suicide.

  • Die Hard, one of the most perfect movies ever made, was released on this day in 1988. Based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, Die Hard made Bruce Willis a superstar and ushered in a new era of action heroes – flawed, vulnerable, human. Alan Rickman, making his film debut, chews the perfect amount of scenery as terrorist Hans Gruber. Box office expectations were low for the film – Willis was not yet a bankable star and 20th Century Fox featured the 40-story skyscraper as prominently as Willis’ face in the marketing campaign – but it ended up earning $140 million. It was also nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Film Editing.
Alan Rickman’s delivery of the line “Now I have a machine gun…ho ho ho” is absolute perfection.
  • Stranger Things debuted on Netflix on July 15, 2016. The Duffer Brothers asked the question, “What if Steven Spielberg directed a Stephen King movie?” and the initial answer was…Montauk. The Long Island city had been the stand-in for Amity Island when Jaws was filmed, and the brothers thought it was a nice tribute to Spielberg to set their series there. Eventually they opted to create a fictional town instead, and when Hawkins, Indiana was born, the show had to be renamed.
  • Happy birthday to the incomparable Terry O’Quinn.
  • Happy birthday as well to Lana Parilla, co-star of several series, including Spin City, Once Upon a Time (where she brilliantly played The Evil Queen and her real-world counterpart, Regina Mills) and two personal favorites of mine, Boomtown and Swingtown.
  • Boomtown
  • Swingtown
  • Once Upon a Time
  • Ian Curtis was born on this day in 1956. Lead singer and songwriter for post-punk band Joy Division, Curtis had a history of substance abuse and depression, and in 1978 he was diagnosed with severe epilepsy. Curtis always seemed haunted, and his lyrics matched his mood, with titles like “Disorder”, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and “Isolation”. On May 18, 1980, on the eve of Joy Division’s first North American tour, Curtis hung himself with a piece of clothes line; he was just 23 years old. Two months later, Joy Division’s second and final album, Closer, was released. The remaining members of Joy Division disbanded and reformed as New Order.
  • On this date in 1972, Honky Château became Elton John’s first of seven consecutive #1 albums in the US. While not John’s finest album (that’d be Goodbye Yellow Brick Road), Honky Château is an infectious romp and it contains my all-time favorite Elton song, “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”.

Live Aid

On Saturday, July 13, 1985, an estimated 1.9 billion people across the globe gathered around their television sets and radios for Live Aid, a benefit concert for famine relief in Ethiopia. An additional 150,000 saw the event live from Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.

The roots of Live Aid go back to the fall of 1984 when the BBC aired a series of reports on the famine in Ethiopia. Watching those reports was Bob Geldof, then best known as the lead singer of The Boomtown Rats. Geldof was inspired (along with Ultravox’s Midge Ure) to arrange for a group of all-star UK artists (collectively known as Band Aid) to record a single for famine-relief charity. The result was “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, an undeniably catchy slice of cheese.

Bob Geldof and Midge Ure

“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was well-intentioned but cringe-worthy (‘Tonight thank God it’s them instead of you’? YIKES). Regardless, the single was a smash; “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, which debuted at #1 in the UK, sold 2.5 million copies in the US and 11.7 million copies worldwide. The single also spawned an equally well-intentioned – and equally cringey – US version, co-written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson and credited to USA for Africa, called “We Are the World”.

Band Aid

USA for Africa

The success of Band Aid and USA for Africa inspired Geldof and Ure – on the suggestion of Culture Club’s Boy George – to organize a benefit concert to be held on two continents. The idea was to use satellites to bounce back and forth between the two locations, so music was constantly playing. Geldof and Ure hired promoters Harvey Goldsmith and Bill Graham to help organize the event and set about enlisting artists (several prominent musicians, including Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, and Prince, declined for various reasons). Venues were selected. Television and radio broadcasting rights were secured.

The show kicked off at noon in London, 7 am EDT. When the lights went down on JFK, the music had been playing for sixteen hours.

My summer job that year was picking berries at a farm for 50 cents a quart. I had to work that morning, but we had the radio tuned to the event, and I was home by early afternoon to catch the rest of the broadcast. I don’t really recall the concert feeling life-changing at the time. As with any live event, there were memorable and not-so-memorable performances (or ones that were memorable for all the wrong reasons). This list includes a few of each.

  • Phil Collins

Phil Collins was undoubtedly the Live Aid MVP. The only artist to appear at both locations, Collins played at Wembley, took the Concorde across the Atlantic, then did a set at JFK. He also assisted Sting, Eric Clapton, and Led Zeppelin (see next entry) during their performances.

FUN FACT: Collins was under the impression that other artists would be making the transcontinental trek with him and was mortified to learn he’d be the only one.

  • Led Zeppelin

Live Aid was the first time the surviving members of Led Zeppelin played together since the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980. It…didn’t go well. Their set was disjointed, instruments were out of tune, and Robert Plant’s voice was ragged and tired. Jimmy Page tried to throw guest drummer Phil Collins under the bus, suggesting that Collins didn’t know his part, but honestly, Collins is only a fraction of the problem here.

  • Dire Straits

Dire Straits was a massively popular band in the summer of 1985, thanks to their album Brothers in Arms and its #1 single, “Money for Nothing”. The song’s success was due in part to an assist from Sting, who provided the background vocals, including the iconic “I Want My MTV” (sung to the tune of The Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”). Sting pitched in to help when Dire Straits took the stage at Live Aid, and the result did not disappoint.

  • Madonna

Madonna was the biggest pop star on the planet in 1985, thanks to Like A Virgin. The world could not get enough of Madonna. *I* could not get enough of Madonna. I’d just seen her in concert for the first time, at the Detroit leg of The Virgin Tour; the woman puts on a hell of a show. Madonna was introduced at Live Aid (hilariously) by Bette Midler, who alluded to the recent scandal involving nude photos of Madonna taken several years earlier appearing in Playboy and Penthouse magazines. Madonna played along, telling the crowd imploring her to take off her jacket (it was 95 degrees in Philly that day), “I ain’t taking shit off today”, before launching into her dance-party hit “Holiday” – and getting the audience on their feet.

  • David Bowie

When I started working on this piece, I knew I needed to ask my bestie if she had any specific memories from that day (she and I didn’t meet until eight years after Live Aid took place). She first said how Queen gave her goosebumps (see the final entry on this list). Then she said, “David Bowie singing ‘Heroes'”. Bowie had the misfortune of following Queen, but if ever there was a performer who could rise to the occasion, it was Bowie. He had the audience in the palm of his hand, and those of us at home knew we were watching something very special.

  • Bob Dylan with Keith Richards and Ron Wood

Bob Dylan caused a bit of a stir when he told the audience he wished some of the money being raised that day could go to struggling farmers in the US. Bob Geldof was angry at Dylan for his remarks, but the seeds were sown for Farm Aid, which took place two months after Live Aid. Dylan’s set was a bit of a mess; at one point, a string broke on his guitar, so Wood passed his over and played air guitar until someone could bring him another one. But when we talk about Dylan and Live Aid, it generally concerns his pre-performance comments.

  • U2

U2 were not yet superstars in 1985, but Live Aid helped launch them into the stratosphere. Their performance that day is the stuff of legend: a planned third song, “Pride (In the Name of Love)”, had to be jettisoned after their second song, “Bad”, turned into an eleven-minute opus. Turns out Bono was looking for a young woman to come up to the stage and dance with him, as was his custom. But the crowd was surging, and Bono helped security pull a few people to safety, one of whom, Kal Khalique, would later tell The Sun that Bono had saved her life (see the 7:20 mark of the video below). The Edge, Larry Mullen, and Adam Clayton were purportedly angry at Bono, as he disappeared from their view, leaving them to repeat the same few bars of the song for several minutes. It wasn’t until later that they – and the rest of the world – fully understood what had happened.

  • Paul McCartney

The concert’s promoters desperately wanted at least one of the surviving Beatles – preferably Paul – to play; Paul was hesitant, as he hadn’t performed live since the death of John Lennon five years earlier, but “the management” (McCartney’s children) insisted he play. Not wanting to deal with a “Beatles reunion” scenario, George Harrison and Ringo Starr opted not to participate. McCartney only performed one song, but it was the perfect choice. Technical difficulties prevented the folks at Wembley from hearing the song’s first two minutes, but it mattered little – by the end of “Let It Be”, all 72,000 people in the stadium were singing along.

  • Black Sabbath featuring Ozzy Osbourne

Instead of rehearsing, the reunited band reminisced about the old days and went to the bar to get drunk. They took the stage at JFK at 9:52 am, still hungover (or possibly drunk again, depending on which account you read). Either way, their performance was a disaster.

  • Elton John

Elton John had the longest set of the day, coming in at about 32 minutes. He sang one hit after another – “Rocket Man”, “Bennie and the Jets”, “I’m Still Standing”. He also got some help from Kiki Dee and George Michael on “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”, respectively (Andrew Ridgeley, Michael’s Wham! bandmate, was consigned to singing background vocals). The crowd ate it up.

  • Duran Duran

Oof.

  • Band Aid/USA for Africa

Each show ended with the song that started it all: “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in London and “We Are the World” in Philadelphia. It’s all fairly predictable, but hoo boy when Patti Labelle starts belting, you kind of forget everything else.

  • Queen

Queen was not the top act on this ticket, but Freddie Mercury and company brought the house down. When the dust settled, many fans agreed that their set was not only the highlight of the day but the greatest rock performance EVER. If you have twenty minutes, it’s worth watching their full performance.

You can listen to/watch the Live Aid performances in several ways. Here are a couple of suggestions. You can listen to the complete setlist on Spotify:

Or you can subscribe to the Live Aid YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUAVzSGkkTa-IoMx_x1XK4Q

Quick Hits: July 10

  • The trailer for No Man of God was released yesterday. The film portrays the interviews that took place in the 80s between Ted Bundy and FBI analyst Bill Hagmaier, who was a member of the famed Behavioral Science Unit. As a cinephile and a true crime buff, I’m pretty excited to see this one.
  • On this day in 1978, Max Robinson became the first black network news anchor when he was hired to co-host ABC World News Tonight with Frank Reynolds and Peter Jennings.
  • The Fox and the Hound and Escape from New York were both released on this day in 1981. Both films featured Kurt Russell; Russell voiced Copper the hound dog in the former movie and played the legendary Snake Plissken in the latter.
  • Chiwetel Ejiofor was born on this day in 1977. Ejiofor attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art; just three months into his studies, he was cast in his first feature film, Steven Spielberg’s Amistad. Ejiofor won a Laurence Olivier Award for a 2008 production of Othello and a BAFTA (Britain’s version of the Oscar) for 2013’s 12 Years a Slave. He has appeared in several of my favorite films of the 21st century, including Inside Man, Children of Men, American Gangster and The Martian.
  • One of my favorite celebrity couples, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, were married on this day in 2010.
  • The Rolling Stones scored their first US #1 single with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” on this day in 1965. It held the top spot for four weeks before it was replaced by “I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am” by Herman’s Hermits.
  • Today I learned that Ronnie James Dio was born Ronald James Padavona. Today I also learned that Dio’s first band (originally named the Vegas Kings, then Ronnie and the Redcaps, and ultimately Ronnie and the Prophets) was a doo-wop/surf rock outfit who sang songs with titles like “10 Days with Brenda”. The Prophets ultimately morphed into Dio’s first hard rock outfit, Elf. A heavy metal icon, Dio fronted three key bands of the 70s and 80s – Rainbow, Black Sabbath (following Ozzy Osbourne’s departure from the group in 1979) and finally, Dio. Ronnie James Dio died in 2010 after a year-long bout with stomach cancer; today would have been his 79th birthday.

Beauty and the Beat at 40

On July 8, 1981, I.R.S. Records released the debut album by The Go-Go’s, Beauty and the Beat. Beauty and the Beat would eventually hold the top spot on the Billboard album chart for six weeks, yield two top-twenty hits – “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “We Got the Beat” – and become the second biggest-selling album of 1982 (after Asia’s self-titled debut). The album remains, to this day, the only #1 album by a female rock band who played their own instruments and wrote their own music.

The Go-Go’s formed in 1978 in Los Angeles; the original line-up consisted of Belinda Carlisle (vocals), Jane Wiedlin (guitar, vocals), Margot Olavarria (bass) and Elissa Bello (drums). Later in 1978, lead guitarist Charlotte Caffey joined the group. The Go-Go’s started out as a punk band, and played L.A. punk venues like The Masque and Whiskey a Go Go. Eventually, Olavarria and Bello left the band and were replaced by Kathy Valentine and Gina Schock, respectively. It was around this time that the band started pulling away from their punk roots to a poppier sound.

In late 1979, The Go-Go’s recorded a five song demo, including the earliest recorded version of “We Got the Beat”. The band subsequently spent much of 1980 touring in the U.K., where “We Got the Beat” became a minor hit.

On the strength of their demo, The Go-Go’s signed with I.R.S. Records in April, 1981. A little more than two months later, their debut single, “Our Lips Are Sealed”, was released, followed by the full album about a month after that. “Our Lips Are Sealed” wasn’t an instant success in the U.S. but eventually hit #20 on the Billboard Hot 100, due in part to its iconic video, filmed guerilla-style on the streets of Hollywood. Fun fact: the budget for the video came from unused funds in The Police’s video budget (The Police’s drummer, Stewart Copeland, is the brother of I.R.S. Records founder Miles Copeland III).

When the rest of the band goes into the lingerie store, and Jane Wiedlin is sitting in the car singing the bridge, you can see Belinda Carlisle trying to hide behind the driver side door.

On January 16, 1982, I.R.S. released Beauty and the Beat‘s second single, “We Got the Beat”. The song spent three weeks at the #2 spot on the Hot 100 (it was kept out of the top spot by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock and Roll”) and propelled Beauty and Beat to the top of the album chart. The video for “We Got the Beat”, filmed during a live performance at Palos Verdes High School in Los Angeles, received heavy airplay on MTV, and the single reached a wider pop culture audience later that year when it was featured in the opening credits sequence for Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The band was also nominated for Best New Artist at the 24th Annual Grammy Awards (they lost to Sheena Easton).

Beauty and the Beat is iconic, with one banger after another. It is thirty-five minutes of pure pop-punk perfection. And though The Go-Go’s weren’t able to duplicate Beauty and the Beat‘s success with their subsequent albums, 1982’s Vacation and 1984’s Talk Show, their place in rock and roll history is secure. On October 30, 2021, the band – after fifteen years of eligibility – will finally be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving group.

Quick Hits: July 7

  • Robert Downey Sr. – actor, filmmaker and father of Robert Downey Jr. – has died at the age of 85. Downey was a leading figure in the counterculture cinema of the 1960s, writing and directing such low budget features as Putney Swope, Pound and Greaser’s Palace. As an actor, he also appeared in bigger budget pictures like To Live and Die in L.A., Johnny Be Good, Boogie Nights and Magnolia.
  • Freaks and Geeks is now streaming on Paramount+, and hubby and I decided it was time for a rewatch. I will never tire of this perfect little gem of a show. When it began airing in the fall of 1999, the series was a massive critical success but NBC wasn’t sure how to market it and the ratings were dismal. The show moved time slots a couple of times, which also didn’t help it find an audience. Finally, NBC pulled the plug and burned off the remaining episodes over the summer. Freaks and Geeks was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, and won – deservedly so – for Best Casting for a Comedy Series (the cast of then-unknowns included Linda Cardellini, Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jason Segel, Busy Phillips and John Francis Daley). If you’ve never seen Freaks and Geeks, what are you waiting for?
  • From left, Martin Starr, Busy Phillips, Samm Levine, Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini, Seth Rogen, John Francis Daley and James Franco
  • On this day in 1965, Otis Redding recorded “Respect”. Two years later, in a rare case of the cover version surpassing the original, Aretha Franklin rearranged the song and made it her own.
  • Happy 81st birthday, Ringo Starr! Last year, I made a playlist in celebration of his 80th. It’s still a fun listen.
  • George Cukor was born on this day in 1899. Director of such greats as The Philadelphia Story, Gaslight, Adam’s Rib, Born Yesterday, A Star is Born (1954) and My Fair Lady, Cukor was nominated for five Best Director Oscars, and won on his final nomination, for My Fair Lady. Cukor directed his last feature film (Rich and Famous, starring Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen) at the age of 82, and died in January, 1983, at the age of 83.
  • The Philadelphia Story
  • Gaslight
  • Adam’s Rib
  • Born Yesterday
  • A Star is Born
  • My Fair Lady
  • Amazon has released the trailer for VAL, a documentary featuring home video footage from some fifty years in the life and career of Val Kilmer. Kilmer co-produced the doc along with his kids Jack and Mercedes, who appeared at Cannes this week to promote the film.
  • Syd Barrett died of pancreatic cancer on this day in 2006. Barrett co-founded Pink Floyd and was their original frontman and primary songwriter. He helped record the group’s first two albums, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets, but was ousted from the band for his excessive use of psychedelics (and possibly for his mental health issues). Barrett embarked upon a brief solo career, but retired from music and public life in 1972. David Gilmour replaced Barrett in Pink Floyd, and Roger Waters assumed creative direction of the band. “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, a nine-part music suite dedicated to Barrett, appeared on 1975’s Wish You Were Here, my personal favorite Pink Floyd album.

Quick Hits: July 5

  • Happy birthday, Robbie Robertson! Known primarily for his work with The Band, Robertson is a musician, songwriter, film composer, actor and author. He is responsible for writing some of rock’s all-time greats, including “The Weight”, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” and my personal favorite, “Up on Cripple Creek”. Robertson has also collaborated with Martin Scorsese on a number of films, composing and producing scores for films like Raging Bull, The Color of Money, The Departed and The Wolf of Wall Street. Last year, I made a playlist inspired by Robertson’s birthday; I think it’s worth a listen again.
  • Seinfeld premiered on NBC on this date in 1989 with an episode titled “Good News, Bad News”. Michael Richards’ character was named Kessler, not Kramer, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Elaine Benes was nowhere to be seen. Though the show was well-liked among most of the NBC execs, one notable exception was then-president of the network Brandon Tartikoff, who thought the show was “too New York, too Jewish”. To complicate matters, test audiences hated it. Tartikoff agreed to air the show as a one-off but refused to pick up the series, greenlighting Ann Jillian’s eponymous sitcom instead. Critics loved the show, then titled The Seinfeld Chronicles, and criticized NBC’s decision not to pick it up. And this time, the audience loved it: its Nielsen rating was good and it was the week’s 21st most-watched show (it did, however, lose its time slot to CBS’s Jake and the Fat Man). Fast forward to winter, Ann Jillian was placed on hiatus, and the show’s most ardent fan at NBC, executive vice president Rick Ludwin, agreed to put up his personal budget to pay for four more episodes of Seinfeld. The pilot was re-aired on June 28, 1990, to kick off the show’s mini-season. Seinfeld would remain on the air for nine seasons and 173 episodes.
The show’s tone was there from the beginning, as was the iconic score.
  • On this day in 1993, Björk released her first solo album, Debut, following the dissolution of her band The Sugarcubes. An eclectic mix of alternative, electronic and trip-hop, Debut was a bigger success in Europe than here in the US, but it was a hit on the dance and modern rock charts. It is a stunning debut, and is widely regarded as one of the decade’s best albums.
  • The season finale of Top Chef aired Thursday night, and once the victor was crowned, the controversy began. Rumors began swirling about Gabe Erales’ firing from Comedar, the Austin Mexican restaurant where he was executive chef. The firing happened in December, after the season was filmed but before it aired. Host Padma Lakshmi took to Twitter to address the controversy:

For more information on this story:

https://austin.eater.com/2021/7/2/22559953/top-chef-winner-gabe-erales-comedor-fired-harassment-controversy

  • Nick Offerman has joined the cast of Amazon’s A League of Their Own reboot as Rockford Peaches coach Casey “Dove” Porter, who apparently got his nickname because he killed a dove with a forkball while pitching for the Cubs. The series, billed as a “reimagining” of the classic 1992 film, was developed by Broad City‘s Abbi Jacobson, who will co-star as well. No word yet on a release date, but the show is expected to air sometime later this year.
  • Abbi Jacobson, Chanté Adams, D’Arcy Carden, Gbemisola Ikumelo

4th of July

Initially published in 2021, this post has been edited for content and clarity.

“Hey guys, one more thing. This summer, when you’re being inundated with all this American bicentennial Fourth of July brouhaha, don’t forget what you’re celebrating, and that’s the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic, white males didn’t want to pay their taxes.” – Ms. Ginny Stroud, Dazed and Confused

On July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Every year, Americans celebrate the holiday by grilling giant slabs of meat and watching gunpowder missiles explode in the sky. Since it’s hot and humid in Michigan (and I’m not feeling particularly patriotic anyway), I’ll be spending the holiday in my cool, dry house, with a world of media at my disposal. So, what to watch on Independence Day? Here are some suggestions.

  • Jaws

The OG summer blockbuster, Jaws has made people afraid to go in the water for fifty years. Made for $9 million, Jaws was released on June 20, 1975, and dominated the box office for weeks. Set around the 4th of July holiday, in the fictional Long Island town of Amity, Jaws pits police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) against Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton), who is determined to keep those beaches open for the holiday no matter how many locals have to die.

Jaws is a master class in the art of building tension. Take the following scene: Brody knows the secret that no one else knows (there’s a killer shark on the loose), and we see things unfold from his perspective. Ordinarily mundane things – children playing in the water, Olivia Newton-John on the radio, a toddler singing “Do You Know the Muffin Man?” while he builds a sandcastle – take on an air of danger. And that dolly zoom is PERFECTION.

R.I.P. Alex Kintner

FUN FACT: “That’s some bad hat, Harry”, one of my all-time favorite movie quotes, inspired the name of Bryan Singer’s production company, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Inc.

For more on Jaws, click here:

Jaws at 50
  • Zodiac

Perhaps not the most obvious choice, but Zodiac is one of the first things that came to my mind when I started working on this piece. This criminally underrated 2007 David Fincher film tells the story of one of history’s most infamous unsolved cases: the hunt for the Zodiac Killer. The film’s opening sequence takes place on July 4, 1969, and it’s a doozy. A couple named Darlene and Mike are at Lover’s Lane and are menaced by an unseen man whom Darlene seems to recognize. The gunshots begin as we hear the strains of Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man”. The sudden, shocking violence is both expected and surprising. The six-minute sequence is exquisite, and we are entirely on Fincher’s hook by the end of it.

  • Hamilton

Hamilton, the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, features actors of color portraying the predominantly white founding fathers and other historical figures. The brainchild of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton is a unique blend of hip-hop, R&B, soul, and traditional show tunes. Yes, it’s as good as you’ve heard; I was fortunate enough to see the show live in Chicago several years ago. You can watch a filmed version of Hamilton on Disney+ or listen to the Broadway Cast Recording on Spotify (or your preferred music streaming service).

  • Independence Day

This time around, the villain isn’t King George III, but a race of aliens bent on destroying humanity. Independence Day is as big and silly as Hollywood blockbusters come, 100% pure entertainment. Sometimes you just need to watch Will Smith punch an alien in the face. Plus, we get Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Fierstein, Judd Hirsch, and a president played by Bill Pullman, who delivers a stirring speech that makes us proud to be American – and human.

  • Stranger Things 3
Season three character posters featured the Hawkins Fourth of July fair in the background

Not only was Stranger Things 3 released on July 4th (2019), but the action takes place around the holiday as well. We’re treated to more than one fireworks display – the official fireworks of the county fair, and the unofficial pyrotechnics at the Starcourt Mall. While Mike, Nancy, and the gang prepare to battle the Mind Flayer at the mall, the rest of the Wheeler family sits atop the Ferris wheel (“the best seats in the house”). When little Holly says, “Mom, the trees are moving”, we know that the show has only just begun.

  • Born on the Fourth of July

There’s no greater freedom guaranteed by our Constitution than the freedom of speech; it is the First Amendment, after all. Ron Kovic, born on July 4, 1946, returned from his second tour of duty in Vietnam paralyzed from the chest down. He became a staunch anti-war activist, and his 1976 memoir of the same name became the basis for this Oliver Stone film. Starring Tom Cruise (in his first Oscar-nominated role) as Kovic, Born on the Fourth of July was a commercial and critical success, becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of 1989 and earning eight Oscar nominations (it won two awards: Best Director and Best Film Editing).

  • John Adams
Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti

The 2008 HBO miniseries John Adams, starring Paul Giamatti as the second POTUS/Founding Father and Laura Linney as his wife Abigail, was the recipient of five Primetime Emmy Awards and eight Creative Arts Emmys. Though it deviates somewhat from the David McCullough source biography (and history), the series is grounded by three Emmy-winning performances from Giamatti, Linney, and Tom Wilkinson (Benjamin Franklin).

  • A League of Their Own

Baseball is the quintessential American sport, and while many fine films have been made about baseball, the most patriotic baseball film also happens to be my favorite. A League of Their Own tells the story of the women of the AAGPBL (All-American Girls Professional Baseball League), who performed their patriotic duty while the men of baseball were off fighting in World War II. The League, founded in 1943 by Philip K. Wrigley, was real, and although the film is fiction, many of the characters were inspired by the women of the actual league. A League of Their Own, directed by Penny Marshall and starring Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, and Tom Hanks, is a delight. There’s humor and heart in every frame, and the baseball sequences are thrilling.

FUN FACT: Penny Marshall insisted that the cast all be able to actually play ball. USC assistant coach Bill Hughes was brought in as an adviser, and the actors spent three months at baseball camp to prepare for the shoot. Many cast members were injured: Anne Ramsay, who plays Helen Haley, broke her nose, and the bruise seen on Alice’s (Renée Coleman) leg in the film was real.

  • Yankee Doodle Dandy

A musical biography of entertainer and songwriter George M. Cohan, Yankee Doodle Dandy stars James Cagney as Cohan, the father of American musical comedy and the composer of such patriotic hits as “Over There”, “A Yankee Doodle Boy”, and “You’re a Grand Old Flag”. The film was a huge financial success and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning three, including Best Actor for Cagney (it lost Best Picture to Mrs. Miniver). If you only know Cagney from gangster movies like The Public Enemy, you’re in for a treat.

  • National Treasure

Historian, cryptologist, and treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage) is searching for a Freemason treasure that includes a map hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Improbable plot aside, National Treasure is silly, family-friendly fun with a terrific supporting cast that includes Sean Bean, Diane Kruger, Harvey Keitel, and Christopher Plummer.

  • 1776


William Daniels as John Adams and Howard da Silva as Benjamin Franklin in 1776

Based on the 1969 Tony-winning musical, 1776 is a fictionalized account of the Second Continental Congress and the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. With music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards, the film starred many of the Broadway musical’s original cast, including William Daniels, Ken Howard, Howard da Silva, and John Cullum.

FUN FACT: The exteriors for 1776 were filmed at Warner Bros. studios. The fountain seen during the musical number “The Lees of Old Virginia” is the same one featured in the opening credits of Friends.

  • The Sandlot

Another family-friendly option, The Sandlot is a coming-of-age baseball film with both laughs and heart. Film critic Roger Ebert described it as a summertime version of A Christmas Story, an apt comparison. The film wasn’t a massive success, but it found its audience on home video. You can stream The Sandlot on Disney+ and Hulu.

FUN FACT: The Sandlot is the source of one of the most iconic movie quotes of the 1990s.

  • I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Hot off the runaway success of his first developed screenplay, Scream, Kevin Williamson adapted Lois Duncan’s YA novel, I Know What You Did Last Summer. With an absurdly attractive young cast and inspiration from the “Hookman” urban legend, IKWYDLS was a box office success and spawned a media franchise. In fact, the fourth movie is slated for release later this month.

Quick Hits: July 3

First of all, a personal note: June was kind of a crazy month – a vacation, a virus, helping my parents with a move, and a (requested) schedule change at work. I only posted seven times in June, less than my minimum goal of two posts per week. I intended to post pieces for Pride and Father’s Day, and wasn’t able to complete them (but at least they’re partially done for next year). I haven’t made writing a priority and I’m jonesing a bit. I’m planning some fun content for the next few days, to take advantage of the long holiday weekend, so stay tuned.

  • On this day in 1971, Pamela Courson found Jim Morrison’s body in the bathtub of their Paris apartment; Morrison was 27 years old at the time of his death. His cause of death was officially listed as heart failure, but French law didn’t require an autopsy so none was done (the popular consensus is heroin overdose). Morrison died two years to the day after Brian Jones’ death, prompting the earliest mentions of the so-called “27 Club” (by the way, Courson died three years later, of a heroin overdose, at the age of 27). Of course, there are some conspiracy theorists who believe Morrison faked his own death; you can find “proof” on the internet, but I’m certainly not going to click on any of those links.
  • My Cold Case binge continues; I’m now into season three. Some season two episodes I particularly loved: “Creatures of the Night”, featuring snippets of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and a guest spot by Barry Bostwick; “Best Friends”, with a star turn by an absurdly young Tessa Thompson (in her first television role); and “Ravaged”, which guest stars a heartbreaking Meredith Salenger as an alcoholic who’s hit rock bottom (viewer warning, there are some very upsetting scenes involving animal abuse in that last episode, and make sure to have some tissues handy).
  • Tessa Thompson in “Best Friends”
  • Meredith Salenger in “Ravaged”
  • I stumbled across this gem on YouTube:
  • YouTube also helpfully offered this one up this morning. If you need proof of why Ann Wilson is the greatest rock vocalist of all time, here you go. For context, this appearance was in 2014, when Wilson was 64 years old. DAMN.
  • Back to the Future opened on this day in 1985. BTTF was THE movie of 1985, earning almost $400 million on a $19 million budget, $4 million of which was the cost of reshooting original Marty McFly Eric Stoltz’s scenes with first choice Michael J. Fox after director Robert Zemeckis decided Stoltz wasn’t right for the part (I love Eric Stoltz, but Zemeckis was right). The film was wildly entertaining: humor, action, skateboard chase scenes, an insanely likable lead actor, weird and wonderful supporting performances by Christopher Lloyd and Crispin Glover, an iconic score by Alan Silvestri, a Delorean time machine and an ending tailor-made for a franchise. BTTF received four Oscar nominations and won for Best Sound Effects Editing; it should have been nominated for Best Picture too – it’s as good a movie as anything released that year.
  • The White Stripes’ White Blood Cells was released on this day in 2001. Now I’m moving on because I feel really fucking old.
  • Happy Birthday, Betty Buckley! I grew up watching Buckley as Abby, stepmom to the Bradford kids on Eight is Enough, and she has appeared in such films as Carrie, Tender Mercies, Frantic and Wyatt Earp, but Buckley is primarily known as a theater actress. She made her stage debut in 1969, in the original Broadway production of 1776. She originated the role of Grizabella in Cats, for which she won the Tony for featured actress in a musical, and has appeared in shows like The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Triumph of Love. She is a rancher and a teacher and an activist, and I highly recommend following her on Twitter.
  • Laura Branigan was born on this day in 1952. One of the most successful pop artists of the 80s, Branigan had a wholesome image, a powerful voice and a catalog of pop gems like “Solitaire”, “Self Control” and the platinum-selling “Gloria”. Branigan died unexpectedly in August of 2004, from an undiagnosed brain aneurysm.
  • I mentioned on Twitter recently that I am loving the Jean Smart renaissance we’re living in. I recently watched season 2 of Fargo, followed by her astonishing turn in Mare of Easttown, for which she’s certain to be nominated for every major award. I haven’t watched Hacks yet, but I hear it’s wonderful. Anyway, Jean Smart should be in all the things. Here’s an article from Entertainment Weekly about the likelihood of a dual-nominated Smart winning at least one award (spoiler: the odds are about 50/50).

https://ew.com/awards/emmys/jean-smart-emmys-2021-predictions-awardist/

  • You better believe I’ll be watching No Sudden Move this weekend.