Never did give my opinion on the New York Dolls show. Thought it “ok” but still not sure why guys looking like Poison were there thinking they were punk rock or something. Johansen looked the cross between Jagger & Tyler they used to compare him with. Better than that show was my watching the documentary “New York Doll” about Arthur Kane. Highly recommended (and I don’t do that often!)
Also just got the DVD set of Saturday Night’s first season (before it became Saturday Night Live) and though I’m sure as I watch it there’s gonna be some wincing stuff (bad drug humor), there’s still enough Gilda plus to bring it all home.
And why isn’t Friday’s out on DVD? That show came on the air during one of the lower lows in SNL’s existence (Piscopo and Rocket-era) and was easily as good in that span with better musical guests (the Jam, the Clash, Devo 3 times). Maybe some day. And where the hell’s seasons 4 and 5 of Taxi, for that matter….
Not going to see Zappa Plays Zappa Tuesday night. Saw the man himself his last show in Atlanta (November 1984) and was kind of bored by that. Now ol’ Dweez is back in town without Lisa Loeb in tow (good for you leaving him LL, now search me out) and cranking out a period of Frank (mid to late 70s) that I never much cared for. So I’ll just stay and work on Tuesday, thank you.
Will try to post again in next few days since I know your life probably revolves around me. Mine does.
Good question about Fridays. Michael Richards used to do some funny skits on that show, and seeing the Clash perform “London Calling” and the Jam doing “Private Hell” were formative influences on my musical taste.
Yeah seeing those Friday’s shows were pretty awesome for a young pup such as myself. Thankfully the Tom Snyder stuff has been released. Haven’t seen it yet, have you?
“Some” of the Tomorrow shows have seen release. Though Weller’s on the one, I can’t remember if the Jam performance from 1981 is on there. Others I’d like to see frpm Tom include U2 (circa October), Split Enz (from around that same time), the whole show with the Clash and Chuck Manson, Ted Nugent, King Crimson (I think they were on there) and I’m sure quite a few more. In a lot of ways the really early Tomorrow shows were precursors of Jerry Springer-type shows as Tom seemed to have more than his share of unusual guests. I’d occasionally stay up until 1 AM in the summer and see the show (Carson was a 90 minute program then.) In a somewhat related note, people always praise Carson but he had a Steve Allen-type contempt for rock music for much of his career. Remember that John Lennon and Paul McCartney were not worthy of appearing on a Tonight Show hosted by Johnny and, thus, were interviewed by Joe Garagiola. Now I liked Joe as a baseball announcer and host on the Today Show when I was a kid, but come on. Also, NBC regularly used to bulk the tapes of non-Johnny hosted shows so the only surviving footage of John & Paul’s appearance is a few short segments that appear to have been shot with a video camera aimed at the TV. But we can always cherish that Ed Ames segment…….