Words for the Ages: Line Thirty-Nine

"The part of you they'll never see is the part you've shown to me."

How many of us ever feel really known by more than one person? What song lyric has ever captured that thought as succinctly as those fourteen words from Do What You Gotta Do?

Awards for artistic merit are notoriously arbitrary. Still, the fact that Jimmy Webb has yet to receive the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song is arguably the most egregious oversight in the eighteen-year history of this particular award. Look at the list directly below and try defending the selection of a few past winners of the Gershwin Prize when the composer of Up Up & Away, By the Time I Get to Phoenix, The Worst That Can Happen is still absent. 

Gershwin Prize - Wikipedia

Putting aside the sentimental selection of Tony Bennett in 2017, of the thirteen songwriters on this list, I submit there are at least a few who have never written a single song that - end-to-end - can hold its own against the elegant craftsmanship of Wichita Lineman, Didn't We, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. There are dozens of other perfectly realized popular songs I could cite from Webb's sixty-year body of work. And he - unlike a few Gershwin Prize recipients - writes his own lyrics.     

OK, my rant about the fickle selections of the musically obtuse people responsible for awarding the Gershwin Prize - i.e., the ones who have overlooked Jimmy Webb - is over. Back to the concision and wisdom of that lyric from Do What You Gotta Do. I cry nearly every time I hear Roberta Flack sing those words. But if dirges are not for you, the Johnny Rivers version of this song - taken at a brighter tempo - is equally moving.       

For Your Consideration

Begin today's reflection by thinking of a seven-year-old you know well. Could be a relative, the child of a good friend or neighbor, perhaps a student. Bring that child into focus via hearing their giggle or watching them as they eat or doing something they enjoy. 

Now try picturing that same child walking hundreds of miles of arid landscape across a country enmeshed in a civil war. There are no adults anywhere nearby, food and water are scarce, menacing soldiers with automatic weapons routinely appear. Many of those soldiers are just a few years older than the child you know. 

Sadly, the story of Valentino Achak Deng - masterfully rendered by Dave Eggers in What Is the What (2006) - is far from unique. Seven-year-old refugees across the globe face circumstances like Deng's nearly every day. In lieu of recommending this disturbing and important book, let me instead pose a question to readers of my blog, many of whom I know to be responsible and humane citizens of the world.

Doesn't each of us have a moral obligation to at least expose ourselves to stories like Deng's, no matter the discomfort that exposure creates in us?

  

Let's Do It Again

Because almost everyone I've ever known has seen Groundhog Day at least once, let's play around today with the central premise of that film. If you could choose one day of your life to live over, what would you pick? 

To ensure our thought experiment is enjoyable, discard the notion of being forced to live that day over and over endlessly like the Bill Murray character had to in Harold Ramis's goofy masterpiece. Instead, tell me and others about a day you'd like to re-live, just one time, no matter the reason. 

I'd pick September 24, 1983. That was exactly one week after my wife and I were married by the mayor of our town in a private ceremony in our new home. The only witnesses for our ceremony were my sister and brother-in-law. We'd already invited about 100 people to our home for September 24. Almost everyone thought we were hosting a housewarming party. Only our families knew we'd been married for a week. Mid-party my other sister asked everyone to raise their glasses to us, announcing why we'd gathered everyone on that day.  

We called that first celebration The Party of the Century (POTC) and used it as a reason to re-gather many of the same people each year around the third weekend of September, a never-ending, it never-was-a-reception-in-the-first-place wedding reception. Word spread - live music, activities for the kids, three or more meals. By year seven - 1989 - attendance had climbed to 250+ people. No rain date was ever announced. If it rained, massive tents sheltered everyone, the live music continued, the food was served. We began at 11:00 a.m. and always went well past midnight. Each year more folks stayed overnight; bagels were served the morning after. We paused from 1990-1992 and resumed on the tenth anniversary in 1993. The final POTC took place September of 1995. 

And though each POTC had its highlights, the one I'd pick to re-live would be that first one. I'd love to again see the look of surprise and joy on all those faces when my sister proposed that toast. What day would you pick? 

Some Stuff Oscar Missed

Here's a full list of 2026 Oscar nominees | PBS News

How many nominees from that recently released best picture list have you seen? Which would get your vote? Do any of the ten baffle you? Of the 5.5 I've seen to date, Train Dreams gets my vote, though it's way too quiet to have any chance of winning. Maybe the screenplay adapted from Denis Johnson's terrific eponymous novella will get the nod, although the competition in that category this year is fierce.   

Next question: In your view, what did Oscar miss this year? I can't recall the last time the list of nominees for best picture didn't have at least one glaring omission. Case in point: How did Kathryn Bigelow and A House of Dynamite slip by? Is it because Chloe Zhao is nominated for Hamnet? Are we allowed just one female nominee for best director per year? Come on!

Reflections from the Bell Curve: A House of Dynamite

I want to keep griping (How did Carey Mulligan miss getting a nomination for best supporting actress in The Ballad of Wallis Island?) but I've still got to watch the second half of Sentimental Value. BTW - if you haven't seen that one - be forewarned; it's a bit on the sleepy side, at least the first half anyway. I've also got to re-watch Sinners and try to figure out what I missed the first time, apparently. Then there's the other four to get to before March 15. Trying to keep those film geek bona fides solid.

What If?

Enjoy learning about less celebrated episodes from American history? I can guarantee Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President (2011) will enthrall you, start to finish.

Before devouring Candice Millard's scrupulously researched and masterfully executed book, all I knew of James Garfield was that he was the second U.S. President to be assassinated. Millard persuaded me that Garfield had the potential to become one of our greatest chief executives, an early and ardent abolitionist, i.e., a man fully committed to preserving the Lincoln legacy.   

Learning this about Garfield led me to reflect on a few counterfactuals, a term historians use when they speculate about "what if?" If Garfield had served his full term, would the ill-advised dismantling of Reconstruction initiated by his predecessor have been halted before it did its irreparable damage? Further, what if he were then re-elected in 1884? How I'd welcome hearing an historian like Stephen Ambrose or David McCullough or Candice Millard create a plausible counterfactual based on James Garfield having served eight years instead of just a few months.  

And now some good news if reading is not a high priority for you right now. The recent four-part Netflix series Death by Lightning is a reasonably faithful adaptation of this excellent book starring the always reliable Michael Shannon as James Garfield. Several moving pieces in the script (e.g., "And I tell you now, in the closing days of this campaign, that I would rather be with you and defeated, than against you and victorious." - Garfield to a group of "freedmen") are taken verbatim from the primary sources used by Millard in her book. Kudos to creator/screenwriter Mike Markowsky for making those wise choices. I'll save my quibbles about Death by Lightning for anyone who has read or later reads the superior book and comments either here or offline. I suspect some of you will notice the same missteps in the series that I did. Quibbles about Destiny of the Republic? None. 

  

Bi-Coastal Pleasures & Challenges

With my only child and grandchild firmly ensconced in Los Angeles - at least for the next few years anyway - a bi-coastal life has fast become a new norm for me. Like most major life changes, this one has brought pleasures and challenges in roughly equal measure.   

* Enjoying the climate; increasingly worn down by hassles related to flying.

* Grateful my son-in-law's guitar is always nearby; stymied by his state-of-the-art coffee maker.

* Thrilled to be witnessing many of my grandson's milestones in person; still searching for a steady reading rhythm. 

For those who share or have had an experience similar to mine, what have been your pleasures and challenges?        

Get It Right, Will You Please?

Is it too much to ask for filmmakers to get it right when depicting musicians playing an instrument? If an actor is not particularly adept with the instrument they're supposed to be playing, there are skillful ways to get around that fact. The actor in a medium shot with their hands doing something not even remotely close to what they're supposedly playing is not one of those ways. Why not a long shot? Even better, how about shooting just the hands actually playing the riff or passage in question? Isn't one of those preferable to the alternative, i.e., subjecting those of us who know better to watch someone "act" as though what they're doing resembles what we're listening to? 

Before asking you to indulge the brief rant below connected to my most recent experience with this kind of sloppy musical filmmaking, let me first ask a question. When were you last annoyed by a filmmaker not getting it right vis-a-vis your line of work? Lawyers, police officers, teachers are three vocations - among others - frequently depicted on film, right? How many of you have ever been triggered by a scene from your profession analogous to the way a scene near the end of Song Sung Blue triggered me? I refuse to believe I'm alone in my nitpicking. 

Michael Imperioli - a talented actor - is a guitar-playing Buddy Holly impersonator in Song Sung Blue. In a scene early in the film, it is clear he knows how to authentically play guitar chords. That makes what happens in a closing scene - accompanying Kate Hudson on a Neil Diamond song - even more egregious. In a medium shot, Imperioli is shown flailing around meaninglessly on the first to third frets of the guitar in the brief instrumental interludes between the stanzas Hudson sings. I submit even novice guitarists watching carefully could tell you what he's doing is not close to what we're hearing. This is not Imperioli's fault. It is careless filmmaking and sadly - at least with respect to musicians - not unusual.

Lest you think my kvetching excessive, I'm happy to provide a list of worthwhile, authentic movies about musicians, e.g., The Fabulous Baker Boys. I'm guessing there was a good musical consultant on hand for that film, or for many others that get it right. It's not that hard.    

Book Club Report: Year Nine

Year nine of the No Wine or Whiners book club was a particularly memorable one. I'm leaving out several highlights in the interest of ensuring this post is no longer than the usual length. 

Most well-received novel of the year: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (2023) - James McBride. The bonus accompanying this discussion with my book club was the opportunity I had to evangelize on behalf of McBride's first book - The Color of Water (1995) - one of the best memoirs I've ever read. 

Most well-received non-fiction of the year: The Wager (2023) - David Grann. My selection of this exceptional title inadvertently broke a guideline established in January 2017 at the club's inception, i.e., never to repeat an author. I'd forgotten we'd read Grann's equally masterful Killers of the Flower Moon a few years back. In the end it didn't matter because The Wager was universally well-received and inspired a rich discussion.

In August, the club hosted Jim Thomson, author of A Better Ending: A Brother's Twenty-Year Quest to Discover the Truth about His Sister's Death (2025). The event drew almost forty people and was followed by a reception at our home. This was a first for the club, helping to make our ninth year special. 

Coming up in the early fall of year ten: A celebration when we reach book #100; more in next year's report. In the meanwhile, I'd welcome hearing highlights from any club you're involved with, though I can't promise I won't steal some of your good ideas.