{"id":394,"date":"2007-12-30T11:05:47","date_gmt":"2007-12-30T17:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/index.php\/2007\/12\/30\/cotton-candy-club\/"},"modified":"2011-03-04T11:01:21","modified_gmt":"2011-03-04T17:01:21","slug":"cotton-candy-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/12\/cotton-candy-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Cotton Candy Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

Driving home from work early Sunday morning, the radio was playing “It Ain’t Necessarily So” from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess<\/em>. The tenor’s voice was to-the-back-of-the-hall soaring, precise in enunciation and emoted with the sass the song demands but rarely gets. This was public radio’s Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson, who said it was Cab Calloway. Amazon.com revealed this was from a 1959 recording.<\/p>\n

Wilson mentioned the 1980 movie Blues Brothers<\/em>, which seems to have been Calloway’s last screen appearance. What hearing that crystal voice recalled for me, though, was Coppola’s The Cotton Club<\/em><\/a> (1984). Actor Larry Marshall played a Depression-era Calloway for one scene, singing “Minnie the Moocher.”<\/p>\n

The Cotton Club got lots of negative reviews, though I see now that Roger Ebert agrees<\/a> on how wonderful it was. The first time I saw it various scenes seemed like vivid paintings, the same feeling I got from Coppola’s Apocalypse Now<\/em>. Two I can’t forget, and Ebert noted them, too: The loving-bickering sibling interplay between Bob Hoskins and Fred Gwynne (yes, Herman Munster) and second the bittersweet tap-dance duet between Gregory Hines and his brother Maurice, who played brothers in the movie as well. The movie had moments of great violence, being at its base a gangster movie, and a wordless plot point cleverly alternated with the brothers’ routine, using the irony of the taps sounding like gun fire.<\/p>\n

Plus the Calloway scene, which also was doubled up, I think, with Richard Gere romancing Diane Lane out in the audience.<\/p>\n

I must’ve seen it in Dallas, then when visiting Fort Smith I dragged my folks to see it. The movie on my second viewing had lost some of its magic, probably because I oversold them on how good it was and I saw they weren’t agape in cinematic joy. When years later I saw it a third time, on TV now, I realized it was made for the big screen and even the Fort Smith Malco Mall Trio screening was better than the little box. (Hoskin’s character was a real person, Owney Madden, who later retired to Hot Springs.)<\/p>\n

Which is to say it’s time for year-end movie tallies, and I can’t persuade myself to the critics’ favorite No Country for Old Men<\/em>. Every December I look forward to all the best-of lists. I don’t see many movies, though I read lots of reviews, and summaries are entertaining and convenient. Lots of the acclaimed movies only now are arriving in cinemas, this being strategy for them to win awards shows later in the winter. I print out Ebert’s, the Christian Science Monitor’s and one or two more, which I leave by the TV so in the year ahead when we plan a video store trip I can make a list for DVD rental.<\/p>\n

But now I could sit in a theater and see No Country for Old Men.<\/em> It’s a hunt for a serial killer, bloody and suspenseful like Cotton Club<\/em>, not to mention some of the other Coen brothers hits like Fargo<\/em>. But we’ll probably end up at Charlie Wilson’s War<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Maybe I’ve lost the taste for psycho killer movies. No, I’d go for another Silence with the Lambs<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Last weekend at a video store I considered a recent, well-regarded cop flick, Eastern Promises<\/em>, but instead rented The Simpsons Movie<\/em> and the spry Hairspray<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Simpsons Movie has great writing and acting and special effects. It even has over-the-top violence, opening with an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon-within-a-cartoon.<\/p>\n

Seriously, though, Cotton Club and Lambs had subplots galore. As did Fargo. Old Men just sounds one-note: get the bad guy. I’m sure it’s a well-done police (well, sheriff) procedural. It doesn’t seem to be the gore I’m avoiding but that I prefer complexity.<\/p>\n

The Simpsons has multiple subplots, too. Homer and Bart’s film has no central plot, come to think of it. Doesn’t need one. -30-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Driving home from work early Sunday morning, the radio was playing “It Ain’t Necessarily So” from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. The tenor’s voice was to-the-back-of-the-hall soaring, precise in enunciation and emoted with the sass the song demands but rarely gets. This was public radio’s Jazz Profiles with Nancy Wilson, who said it was Cab Calloway. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[36],"class_list":["post-394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-culture","tag-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5773,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2017\/08\/hi-dee-ho\/","url_meta":{"origin":394,"position":0},"title":"Q: WTF? A: Hi-dee Hi-dee Hi-dee Ho","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Anthony Scaramucci, the short-lived White House communications director, is making the rounds on TV next week.\u00a0Scaramucci will be interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week on Sunday. Then he'll appear on \"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert\" on CBS on Monday.\" -- CNN.com Folks, here's a story about Tony\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Treble clef symbol","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Treble-clef-497x800-93x150.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4288,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2013\/05\/gatsby-critics-old-sport\/","url_meta":{"origin":394,"position":1},"title":"Sportin’ Life, Eh, Old Sport?","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I knew a Jay Gatsby. We were in grade school in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and stayed close through high school. It probably wasn't until junior high when I saw this trait of his -- simply put it's a person sure he can buy friends with money. But that is so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Course of Words"","block_context":{"text":"The Course of Words","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/course-of-words\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Click for Rotten Tomatoes website archive of top critics on the 2013 adaptation of The Great Gatsby","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/great-gatsby-movie-poster-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":497,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/07\/mallets-reforethought\/","url_meta":{"origin":394,"position":2},"title":"Mallets Reforethought","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The story of the June 14, 1986, croquet match played by former Arkansas Attorney General Steve Clark was so memorable to me I did not bother to check the facts when I summarized it last week. I had documents, I kept them in a file -- a real manila paper\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/croquet-0686-lg-res-300x211.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2813,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/04\/get-to-know-your-redistrict\/","url_meta":{"origin":394,"position":3},"title":"Get to Know Your reDistrict","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"April 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2011 Ben S. Pollock The strongest proposal before the Arkansas General Assembly to reapportion the state's four congressional districts involves a serious attempt to gerrymander. The question before the body is what does the amphibious gerrymander eat? Houseflies -- and votes. The aim is to divide the state into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Proposal to move Fayetteville to 4th District","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/FayToFourth-300x231.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4930,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2014\/10\/debateable-indeed\/","url_meta":{"origin":394,"position":4},"title":"Debatable? Indeed.","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"October 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A full-scale, live television candidate debate just may be the pinnacle of unscripted yet predictable \"reality TV,\" with a local example as proof. It was a circus of tamed animals, no clowns. On Tuesday, Oct. 14, incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor faced Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton at a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Brick Bats Reportage"","block_context":{"text":"Brick Bats Reportage","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/brick-bats-reportage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Illustration of Mark Pryor and Tom Cotton by Shafali Anand. Republished with permission of Talk Business & Politcs","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/PryorVCotton-TBP-640x250-300x117.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":367,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/11\/a-song-of-whitman-myself\/","url_meta":{"origin":394,"position":5},"title":"A Song of Whitman, Myself","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2007 Ben S. Pollock A pet peeve is one of those list poems, It's why Whitman bores me then I feel guilty, because isn't he some kind of Poetry God? But for the last 29 of my fifty years, I've bound myself with society's popular rules. If its wisdom\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2749,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394\/revisions\/2749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}