SOUNDTRACK: MICHAEL McDONALD-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #4 (March 26, 2020).
I was never a fan of the Doobie Brothers, although I do like a few of their songs. To me, especially now, Michael McDonald’s voice has the quintessential mockable tone and style. If I were to sing in a voice that I thought was funny, it would sound like him.
Now, he sang on the Thundercat album “Drunk” so that gives him some cred for me, but it’s hard for me to listen to this Tiny Desk Home Concert.
Shows what I know, though, since he is hugely popular and is a “five-time Grammy winner and 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
After Michael McDonald finished “Matters Of The Heart,” the opening song in his Tiny Desk (home) concert, there was a brief pause. The bewilderment on his face was unmistakable. It’s a look I believe we all can relate to in this moment of uncertainty. He sat in his home studio, complete with an illustration of the Tiny Desk drawn by Mr. McDonald himself. That pause, usually reserved for the anticipated applause, was replaced by complete silence.
“Matters” is slow and ponderous. It lasts nearly 6 minutes and sounds like a ballad I would have hated in the 90s.
I hate to be so mean to him, because he seems like a nice enough guy. But my comments surely won’t affect him too much.
He then proceeded to play two 1978 Doobie Brothers classics that showcase his still-golden voice: “Minute By Minute” and “What A Fool Believes.”
He jokes: “If you know the words, sing along with me at home,” he said. “I won’t know if you’re singing well or not because I can’t hear you here.”
I enjoy these two Doobie Brothers songs, although don’t really know the words–I had no idea that the song was called “What a Fool Believes” until about twenty years after I first heard it. I much prefer the full band to these rather stripped down versions.
[READ: March 10, 2020] The Kids in the Hall: One Dumb Guy
It’s amusing to me that this book by Paul Myers, has an introduction by Seth Meyers and mentions Mike Myers.
Seth says that he was interning at Comedy Central and was doing a great job. Then he found The Kids in The Hall (which he had never seen before). He became so obsessed with it that he started slacking off. His boss at Comedy Central said that initially he was planing on offering Seth a job but after all the slacking off he wouldn’t do it. When Seth told his boss he had been side-tracked by The Kids in the Hall, his boss sais, “There are worse things to throw an opportunity away for.”
So this is an authorized biography of the five Kids in the Hall. Myers tells the story in a really compelling way. One where, as you read it, you think, gosh I hope everything works out for these guys. Even though you know they did because well, this book wouldn’t be written about them if it didn’t and because you’re a huge fan of the Kids and you know it all worked out. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 