Muses about life: February 2011

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Glaser Vision: The Authoritative (and False) History of Rock

Comedian and actor Jon Glaser (Delocated, School For Scoundrels) enlisted the help of friends Jon Hamm, Paul Rudd, John Hodgman, Scott Adsit, and Zoe Lister-Jones to perform readings from his new book, My Dead Dad Was In ZZ Top, a book of "recently discovered" fake documents from the history of rock and roll, to a sold-out crowd last night at The Bell House in Brooklyn.

John Hodgman (The PC from Apple's "Mac vs. PC" commercials, and a Daily Show and This American Life contributor) read a letter from artist Pablo Picasso to the band The Modern Lovers, seeking to correct them on their lyrics, "Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole."

Hodgman started by noting that since Picasso was from Spain but spent a good deal of time in France, "nobody knows what he actually sounded like," and he would be reading the letter in a "vague foreign accent" he had prepared for by watching thirty seconds of an interview with Javier Bardem on YouTube.

Jon Hamm (Mad Men) read a classified memo detailing a top secret Navy Seals program called "Butthole Surfers," which is, according to Glaser's book, the origin of the band's name. Scott Adsit (30 Rock) read a series of telegrams from Jack White to Meg White, which promised to clear up any uncertainty as to whether Jack and Meg were siblings or former spouses. According to the telegrams, Meg is actually Jack's mother and he went back in time to form The White Stripes with her. Zoe Lister-Jones read notes from Bob Seeger's therapist's notepad about how Bob Seeger is a werewolf, and all of his songs are, in fact, about being a werewolf.

Paul Rudd (Role Models) ended the night by reading some letters from Jay Leno to some prospective new house bands for the Tonight Show, including Interpol and Franz Ferdinand. He told the audience that he had prepared for his Jay Leno voice the same way Hodgman had prepared for Picasso's, by watching thirty seconds of an interview of Javier Bardem. His Jay Leno was spot on at first, but by the third letter, he opined, "Now I just sound like a regular guy!""The Jay Leno voice is a sprint, not a marathon," Glaser responded.

Click here for video....

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Maple Leaf Stadium

Before the Rogers Centre, Exhibition Stadium, Maple Leaf Gardens there was Maple Leaf Stadium. The Stadium housed The Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Club from 1926 to 1957 drawing close to 20 000 fans each of the first 5 years. They are still around today but are an inter-county Ontario baseball Club that plays at Christie Pits, but in the 20s and 30s they were considered the New York Yankees of the International League (AAA) Winning 4 Junior World Series. Their supreme domination continued through the 40s and 50s winning 3 more championships beating teams like the highly offensive Baltimore Orioles and the great pitching staffs of the Buffalo Bisons. The Toronto Maple Leafs were so good that Milb.com has named 5 Toronto Maple Leafs teams to the 100 greatest minor league teams of all times, 1902, 1918, 1920, 1926 and 1960. The Maple leaf Stadium was located and the southwest corner of Bathurst St and Fleet St (now Lakeshore Blvd). It was built just in time for the 1926 season and cost around $750 000 to build. The Stadium seated 20 000 people and was a state of the art facility of it's time. For more memories click here

Monday, February 7, 2011

'Ich bin der Welt...' JANET BAKER * 1967

I am lost to the world with which I used to waste so much time, It has heard nothing from me for so long that it may very well believe that I am dead! It is of no consequence to me Whether it thinks me dead; I cannot deny it, for I really am dead to the world. I am dead to the world's tumult, And I rest in a quiet realm! I live alone in my heaven, In my love and in my song!