I was idly thinking about this scene from "Better Call Saul" in the episode "Cobbler" and wishing it was a ten minute play.
BCS is a highly-regarded show, but this is just one 5-minute scene in a multi-years-long series, and likely to be long-forgotten. Although Bob Odenkirk and the actors playing the cops are absolute geniuses and made of steel to be able to get through it without breaking down laughing.
I knew who Philip Glass was, I had sat through Koyaanisqatsi. I have only so much tolerance for repetition, but I have been impressed at times by Glass, like by his commentary on Erik Satie in this documentary.
Recently I discovered this piece from an album Glass made with the band Uakti called Aguas da Amazonia. The piece is "Japura River." Of course it's repetitive - come on, it's Philip Glass - but it is
But I got around to reading Glass' biography finally and I love the fact that he was a plumber, moving guy and taxi driver while he was also a working composer:
In order to pay rent, composers frequently take up secondary jobs. Borodin was a licensed chemist, Ives worked in the insurance industry, and the pioneer of minimalist music Philip Glass supported himself by working as a plumber, furniture mover and taxi driver. “I was careful,” the composer explained, “to take a job that couldn’t have any possible meaning for me.” Even after Glass achieved fame and notoriety with his opera Einstein on the Beach in 1976, he still continued to ply his blue-collar trades. Called upon to install a dishwasher, “I suddenly heard a noise and looked up to find Robert Hughes, the art critic of Time magazine, staring at me in disbelief. ‘But you’re Philip Glass! What are you doing here?’ It was obvious that I was installing his dishwasher and I told him I would soon be finished. ‘But you are an artist,’ he protested. I explained that I was an artist but that I was sometimes a plumber as well and that he should go away and let me finish.”
and
Glass first performed his music in the concert hall in 1974, and slowly his career blossomed. Yet he kept driving his cab even after the breakout premiere of Einstein at the Beach. Gradually, more and more commissions trickled in, and slowly Glass realized that the taxi driver’s license he had renewed as a precaution might not be needed. Glass understood that he had finally arrived as a composer when a woman tapped on the side of his cab and told him “you have the same name as a very famous composer.”
When will we have a movie about the young Philip Glass, called Taxi Driver Taxi Driver Taxi Driver?
Such a great, clear, live video of the Beatles in their Beatlemaia prime. It's been online for five years and only has 93K views. JFC, there are My Little Pony episodes on Youtube that have been up for two months that have more than twice as many views. I mean, I like MLP but this is the Beatles!
The audience screams frequently but they don't drown out the music.
And the camera work is surprisingly well done, alternating between wide and close-up shots.
Highlights:
John plays the keyboard with his elbow.
Ringo introduces himself (singing "Act Naturally") in the third person. Paul duets with him for most of the song.
Great duet with John and Paul on "Ticket to Ride"
George introduces Paul's "Yesterday" solo: "And so for Paul McCartney of Liverpool, opportunity knocks."
There's an actual orchestra playing during the song, just like on the record.
John's introduction to "Help" - "our latest record... or our latest electronic noise, depending on whose side you're on."
The Beatles dancing with the Lionel Blair Dancers.
I've been on another Beatles tear recently, having discovered the hundreds of Beatles related podcasts. There are dozens that feature Ian Leslie of "John and Paul: A love story in songs" fame, a book which of course I read, and I've also listened to the audio book a couple of times. One of the interesting points Leslie makes is how jealous John was of the song "Yesterday."
