I don't do that dance no more

One cool thing about living in Victoria is that I don't have to stay up until 11:30 to watch Saturday Night Live.

Mind you, if I PVR it, I also don't have to sit through interminable commercial breaks.

There is a certain thrill, though, in knowing what you're watching is going on at that very moment. Or with a two-second delay for bad language...

Last Saturday's thrill was seeing David Byrne, in an impeccable grey suit, and bare feet, performing with a large group of musicians/dancers/singers -- all in impeccable grey suits and bare feet.

This song was written in 2008, I think.


It was the second song they performed, and I understand that, on Saturday Night Live, the second song is the one the musical guest artist actually wants to perform. The first one is usually a big hit.

This one certainly is. It's from 1980.

Just for the record, David Byrne is 67.

Fear of watching

I've been trying to finish watching the second season of The Handmaid's Tale.

It's been on the PVR for months. I think I got something like two thirds of the way through.

The trouble is, I need three things in order to be able to watch The Handmaid's Tale:
1) I need to be alone because the Resident Fan Boy won't watch it, and younger daughter shouldn't watch it.
2) Because I have to be alone to watch The Handmaid's Tale, I need to be in a relatively sunny mood.
3) It has to be during the day, because no matter how cheerful I'm feeling, I'm not going to watch ritualized rape, tortures and executions at night.

Of course, now the third season's begun, and I'm really getting behind.

The thing about The Handmaid's Tale, it's well-written, well-acted, and way too damn plausible. Margaret Atwood always said there wasn't anything in the story that hadn't happened, or isn't happening to women.

While I'm trying to get my nerve up, I thought this 2017 parody, with the cast of Saturday Night plus guest host Chris Pine, might be bearable:



Well, I guess it is. It's still way too damn real.

Heart-heart-heart, gotcha daddy

Oh my goodness, I've been looking for this for years! This is Lily Tomlin and the All-Nurse Band in the sixth show of the very first season of Saturday Night Live, which aired November 22nd, 1975.

I've never quite heard "St James Infirmary" sung this way anywhere. (That's a ridiculously young Paul Schaffer, born in Thunder Bay, and relatively fresh from Toronto, playing the piano.)

st. james infirmary blues from jednooki jack on Vimeo.

For a more traditional (and infinitely weirder) take on "St James Infirmary", take a look at this clip of a beautifully restored 1933 Betty Boop cartoon by Max Fleischer, featuring the singing of Cab Calloway.