Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 138

Casino Gambling

Who says the Super Bowl ads this year were safe and dull.  It seems that the wildest one of all aired locally--in Savannah, Ga.  Though with big league production values.  And the guy's real name is Casino.  With sledgehammer.

What Might Have Saved Hoffman

Social worker Jeff Feeny,  a recovering addict who still works with heroin users, details in The Atlantic just what's fueling the growing epidemic of overdose heroin deaths--and describes how Naloxone, a "non-narcotic, easily dispensed medication," might have saved Philip Seymour Hoffman, and could save many others.  After advocating for "safe injection sites"  as a "humanity-restoring intervention we can’t have because our laws preclude them," Feeny writes:

There is a particularly chilling aspect to Hoffman’s death that only another recovering addict can feel. He had 23 years clean, and then went back out. Just two weeks ago, I celebrated ten years off my own crippling drug habit. Sometimes I feel convinced that I’ll never relapse and experience that kind of pain and insanity again. Recovery programs warn that this kind of thinking can be dangerous. The addicting substance is characterized as 'cunning, baffling and powerful.' It sounds like a cliché until someone with more than two decades clean, with a beautiful family and a career that is the envy of the world trades it in for a glassine envelope of dope and a set of works.

For more on Naloxone, see the report at the National Institutes of Health site: "Preventing Opiate Overdose Deaths: Examining Objections to Take-Home Naloxone." --  B.B.

Beethoven Returns!

Nyack and NY/NJ/CT friends: As some know, that screening of our Beethoven Ninth film (plus flash mob)  sold out last month and dozens turned away, but now a 2nd screening-plus-music is set for Nyack Library (100 seats) for this Wednesday, Feb. 5. All tickets here, thanks.   Here's the recent "All Things Considered" segment on the film. Link for film trailer and info and our tie-in book here.  The flash mob video may be finished this week.

The Day the Music Did Not (Really) Die

It was 55 years ago today that the plane went down carrying Holly, Valens and Bopper to their deaths.  No, the music did not "die" but it was a terrible loss.  Coolest photo of Buddy ever, at left, shows hm with Waylon Jennings--who gave up his seat on that plane for Buddy on that fateful night.

Thirty years ago, with David Corn and the rest of my Nuclear Times crew, we held a  25th anniversary party in NYC.  Beforehand, I managed to get the phone number of Buddy's mom--still in Lubbock, Texas (she was listed in the phone book under true name "Holley")--and taped a little chat that we had.  Nice lady.  Then I borrowed from Garry Tallent a recent British documentary on Buddy that was made by Paul McCartney.   Then we had our party, with Corn singing and playing some Buddy.  Shocking guests, I told them that Buddy and wife were actually living on lower Fifth Avenue at the time of his death.  So we walked over to that large building.   Corn sang another song.  Doorman had no idea who Buddy was....

As for that death-of-music claim:  Rock n' roll was already in decline and the plane crash sure didn't help.  But soon Motown, the Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, Phil Spector and others arrived to save the day....

Below, it's Gary Busey closing out the famed bio pic of Buddy, at concert just before Buddy took off on his fateful fatal flight.  Do you need to be reminded that Gary, now one big punchline, got an Oscar nomination for that role?  -- G.M.

They'll Stone Ya When Yer Tryin' to Make a Buck

That Dylan Chrysler commercial.  Does this mean that, like Clint Eastwood, he'll soon be addressing invisible leaders in chairs?  Oh, Bob also was used in a "Visions of Chobani" ad.  Money doesn't talk, it swears, take #12 and #555.   Below that, Bob drives that Chrysler down "Highway 61," with Susan Tedeschi, live 1999.

Louis Louis

If you watched "Downton" tonight--and why not with the Big Game a rout--you saw the arrival of a jazz band.  Yes, this was what most of it sounded like in the mid-1920s, with the genteel arrangements and high-pitched male crooners (even black).  To understand the revolution that Louis Armstrong brought, and why he was the most important musical figure--and singer--of the century, consider what he started offering around 1925.... -- G.M.

Elway: Safety Blitz

Former Super Bowl hero, Bronco exec and famous Republican and Romney funder John Elway went on Fox today--of course--and was asked why he was a GOPer.  He told Chris Wallace, "Well, it goes to what my beliefs are.  I believe that we’re giving the opportunity to succeed or not succeed....I don’t believe in safety nets. Obviously, we’ve got to have some kind of safety nets. But I think my philosophy is when given the opportunity to go take advantage of that, I think that’s when you get the best out of people.”

'Late' Hoffman

One of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman's final films was, ironically, title A Late Quartet.  Christopher Walken got most of the huzzahs--he deserved an Oscar nod--but Hoffman was also terrific as, literally, second fiddle.  Of course, I'd love because it centers around the playing of Beethoven's fabled opus 131 but it's actually a wonderful movie.  And streaming on Netflix now.  Trailer follows.  Below that, PSH as one of our old Crawdaddy writers, Lester Bangs, in Almost Famous.--G.M.

Philip Seymour Hoffman Dead at 46

UPDATE  In unusual move, police have already released details on the two packets of heroin found next to Hoffman's body and how they were labeled--apparently to warn other users to stay away from them.

Earlier: Very sad.  I'd followed his career from the very beginning.  Appears now that it was a heroin overdose, with syringe even found in arm.  I wasn't aware that he'd been clean for 20 years, then went into detox last year.  Still, a tremendous shock.  He was doing best work of career, even in so-so films, right down to a recent personal favorite, A Late Quartet, as violinist playing Beethoven.  I loved the smaller, often comic, roles:  Charlie Wilson's War, as Art Howe in Moneyball, Boogie Nights.  As Lester Bangs in Almost Famous.  With so much else to hail, few will probably mention his political documentary from a decade ago, "The Party's Over," see below and more here. --G.M. 

Woody Confess?

Sunday update:  As debate continues across the Web--Lena Dunham has voiced support for Farrow, but few other top stars have joined in--the prosecutor in Conn. who once suspected the charges were true says there is no chance for any new charges to filed as statute of limitations ran out long ago.

UPDATE  Kristof tweets:  "Dylan says she's VERY grateful to all: "The outpouring of support has been monumental, and I'm so immensely grateful. Thank you....Quite a gender gap in reaction to Dylan's essay. Many men are denouncing me for publishing it; many women thanking me for the same."

Earlier  Finally we get the voice of the daughter, Dylan Farrow, he allegedly sexually abused in a closet has been not only heard but amplified because it's a Nick Kristof blog and it's at the NYT.  As he observes, she has not written about the incident in her own words previously.  Read the whole thing and then you'll know why Woody Allen getting the Lifetime Achievement at the Golden Globes set off a firestorm, partly pushed by a tweet from her brother Ronan.  Here's the conclusion:

What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? Louis CK? Alec Baldwin? What if it had been you, Emma Stone? Or you, Scarlett Johansson? You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?

Woody Allen is a living testament to the way our society fails the survivors of sexual assault and abuse.

So imagine your seven-year-old daughter being led into an attic by Woody Allen. Imagine she spends a lifetime stricken with nausea at the mention of his name. Imagine a world that celebrates her tormenter.

Are you imagining that? Now, what’s your favorite Woody Allen movie?

 --G.M.