Under the Punk Covers: Love the Damned (Splitting the Dickies)

A few weeks ago I was on that popular social network site, and because at some point in the past I had imprudently confessed a preference for early punk pranksters the Dickies a link appeared in my newsfeed. It was to the video done (clearly on no budget) for their 1979 cover of the theme for the '60s kids show The Banana Splits, "The Tra La La Song" (which featured singer Leonard Graves singing into a banana instead of a microphone; it is best that their success never relied on such visuals on the small screen--see for yourself below).


Clicking through to the hosting site's page I saw videos posted for others, including the Damned's cover of "Alone Again Or" (which, I was vaguely reminded, featured the British punk pioneers dressed in Spanish garb out in the middle of a desert... for some reason).


Their faithful rendition of the classic 1967 Love track still holds up after 26 years, in large part because the song is so good (certainly not from that 1987 video).

The funny thing about that, when I think back to that time, is how when I heard it (on KROQ) I was unaware it was a cover.

Eating or Cheating Redux: Two-timing by one-timing

Last summer I posted about finding a new, closer breakfast place and feeling as though we were cheating on the restaurant that had been our regular spot (which was a drive across town). However, in the intervening months, that closer place had gone downhill and we haven't gone there in a while. The previous spot resumed its status as weekend destination for the morning meal.

A couple months ago we went to that usual breakfast spot (the Coffee Cup Café) and the host was a guy who we knew from the place closer to home (which shall remain unnamed) with which we had the dalliance as the "new" breakfast spot. When my wife walked in to CCC one Saturday morning and encountered the guy from other place, she experienced a shred of guilt.

How I Keep Watching 'How I Met Your Mother'

As anyone who is remotely interested in the series the eighth season finale of How I Met Your Mother aired last night, and as anyone who is remotely interested in the series has already seen or heard, there was a surprise ending—which we will touch on—but this post is more general in its scope.

Last week, after the penultimate episode, we knew in advance that the finale would not be the Barney-Robin wedding (where it has already been revealed Ted first sees the woman who becomes the eponymous mother). In the eighth-season opener they teased us with a "flash-forward" scene where it's after the wedding and Ted is waiting at the train station and the woman with the yellow umbrella (whom we know from much earlier in the series is the mother) stands nearby, her face obscured by that item (below).

At that point (back in September) this eighth was to be the final season, so the groundwork laid there clearly suggested in the finale it would close with the continuation of that scene, presumably with Ted and the woman under the umbrella glancing over at each other. We'd get a shot of the mother's face under the umbrella, they'd share a smile as some uplifting song plays underneath, then cut to the kids in the future on the couch wiping a tear away as narrator Ted caps it with the obvious but appropriate, "That's how I met your mother." Roll credits.

Coming out after Collins

NBA player Jason Collins came out in a Sports Illustrated cover story last week, the first openly gay pro in any of the major sports. It was a brave move, of course, and to be applauded certainly. The encouraging thing is that he wasn't met with the undiluted bigotry that Jackie Robinson encountered; it wasn't even that much of an event—sure, it was newsworthy, but there wasn't a backlash in the sports community. The Daily Show even lampooned how it wasn't treated as such a big deal, suggesting that society's acceptance of homosexuality is (to borrow the phrase) out of the closet.

Prior to coming out, Jason Collins was unlikely to be a household name. That's not suggesting he did so as a calculated ploy for fame (I don't believe that was why he did so); it is merely the reality of what has happened in the wake of what he did.

But is it so bad that he gets the highlight given that this should contribute to bringing this vestige of latent homophobia—professional male sports—out of its dark ages (so to speak)?

I'd say that's far more worthy of being known by the general public (rather than merely by NBA fans) than anything any Kardashian has ever done (or not done, as it were).

How Freaks and Geeks Met Your Mother's Mad Men in Buffy Cougartown

Fun with TV overlap, 13 years after Freaks and Geeks:

Lindsay Weir has a 17-year-old and is sleeping with Don Draper.

Nick Andopolis has a toddler and is happily married to Willow.

Daniel Desario has no children and bombed as Oscar host.

Ken Miller is proudly serving in the military (after a stint producing porn).

Kim Kelly, not surprisingly, consumes a fair amount of wine.

Seems pretty clear who has most to brag about at the reunion. Or at least who would be most popular at such an event.

Public profanity: A short guide to using it

Many would argue that the use of profanity in public has spun wildly out of control over the past few decades, and there'd be little denying standards are much looser than in my parents' day. However, there are moments when it fits perfectly with a given public situation.


For years to come I imagine a primary example of that scenario to be cited will be David Ortiz's speech before Saturday's Red Sox game—the first after the Boston Marathon bombing suspects were killed and captured.

'Songs For Slim' Doesn't Replace the Replacements

A couple week's ago friend on Facebook asked me about my stance on the new Replacements' "album." This was close to the time we go to bed and I wasn't inclined to get into a long analysis, so I replied simply: "Well, it's an EP of covers, unpretentiously played and produced. I enjoy it."

And that sufficed at that hour.