I Found Another Must-See Generation-Gap Duet

Even rarer than the leap-year day is the generation gap duet (my term for it), when clashing cultures are joined via a pre-rock-‘n-roll icon singing a duet with a rock star. I don’t think very many occurred, but each one I’ve seen is fascinating. 

Frank and Elvis

I believe the first was when Frank Sinatra sang with Elvis Presley in the 1960 television show that welcomed the King back from the army. This was the prototype for generation-gap duets. In the 1940s, teenagers screamed for Frank, in the 1950s, it was Elvis. So why did these two get together? Each was fishing for a career boost. Elvis‘s presence gave Sinatra’s show ratings a healthy bump over the three previous specials in the series. And Elvis was not only restarting his career after a two-year army hiatus, he also hoped to get off the latest-fad train by attracting an adult audience and perhaps following a career path similar to Sinatra’s. 

They sounded good together, each taking a turn at a hit song of the other (Love Me Tender and Witchcraft), eventually coming together to close the performance with a tight, well-blended harmony. And they look like they’re having fun. But it was the self-proclaimed rock-‘n-roll hating Sinatra’s show, and they performed by Sinatra’s rules, the songs arranged in Sinatra’s swing style, the attire black tie. Like a good son, Elvis was polite and respectful, but with a glint in his playful eyes, suggesting that he had something big planned for when he stepped out of his parent’s house later that evening. 

Bing and Bowie

Another popular duet is the elderly Bing Crosby joining the young space oddity David Bowie to perform Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy for “Bing Crosby’s Merry Ole Christmas” television special, taped on Sept. 11, 1977. Their performance is impeccable, but seeing Bing Crosby pairing his clean-cut post-Great Depression style with Ziggy Stardust is surreal. 

Knowledgeable Bowie writers claim that Bowie did it as part of an effort to normalize his career after a decade as a glam-rock freak and recently initiating recovery from a debilitating drug addiction. Bing appears to be a good sport about it, though his energy is a little low. Indeed this was one of his final recordings—he died a month later, and the show was presented posthumously. Seeing his interactions with Bowie and understanding these circumstances does make you wonder, as many pundits have opined, if Bing knew what he’d gotten himself into.

Jerry and Gary Lewis 

My latest generation-gap duet revelation is the father-son combination of Jerry and Gary Lewis on the rock ‘n roll TV show Hullabaloo in September 1965. They were co-hosts, and they kicked off the night’s festivities together singing the latest hit single by the Beatles, “Help,” arranged no doubt to please the senior Lewis.

Imagine singing the line, “But now those days are gone I’m not so self-assured,” with fingers snapping in the supremely confident ring-a-ding-ding swing style of the Rat Pack. Well you don’t have to imagine it, because the Lewises show you how it’s done in their Hullabaloo performance. 

Mind the (Generation) Gap

Each of these duets offers insights into the nature of the so-called Generation Gap. Frank seemed to want to exert some control over the competitive threat that was Elvis. Bing was in his final days and didn’t so much pass the torch to David Bowie as stay oblivious as the world changed around him. 

Jerry, on the other hand, took an iconic hit by a band that turned out to be perhaps the greatest musical force of the century, and said, “Step aside boys, let me show you how it’s done.” 

Later in life Gary was estranged from his dad. Suffering through duets like this one probably wasn’t the cause, but it certainly showcases the problem. 

Photo at the top of the page: A female demonstrator offers a flower to a military police officer somewhere in the United States on October 21, 1967.

Poodle Sets Course Record in Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Fun Run

In her first-ever running race, the Standard Poodle Mersey Grrl set an apparent course record yesterday, finishing first in the annual Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Four-Mile Fun Run’s dog category. Her time of 38 minutes, 41 seconds is believed not only to be the fastest, but the first ever recorded by a dog in this race. 

Indeed the race only adopted a dog category when the race director responded yesterday to the question, “Can I run the race with my dog?” by saying, “You can do whatever you want.” 

While this was the first formal race for Mersey, she’s not inexperienced. She runs occasionally with her owner and her mini-poodle companion, Dusty. But those efforts are often interrupted for bathroom breaks and overwhelming attraction to environmental aromas. There was some question prior to the race as to whether she could maintain a steady pace for four straight miles. 

The answer to that question was a resounding: well, for the most part, yes! 

A major distraction occurred even as the race began, with Mersey clearly battling separation anxiety from Dusty and the other owner, who were spectators. She required a series of steady leash tugs to keep her striding in the right direction. But once settled in, she had only a few more lapses. In the first mile, she tried to climb a snowbank, perhaps chasing a long frozen slice of pizza or a better view of Lake Flower. Later, the race official standing in the road directing runners to turn left was almost certainly there awaiting her arrival, to pet her and possibly offer treats. These were among the handful of moments when a little leash work kept her on task. 

Mostly she kept up a steady trot amidst the several dozen human runners, looking straight ahead like she meant business and maintaining her pace even on the challenging hills in the course’s middle two miles. Occasionally she surged ahead of her owner, leading him into a faster pace than he’d bargained for. That was most pronounced in the final three quarters of a mile, when the finish line came into view across Lake Flower. She revealed a powerful kick and likely could have made up substantial ground if her owner had been able to keep pace. But it wasn’t all on him. Mersey also suffered a self-inflicted wound when she stopped just before the finish line to greet Dusty and the other owner. Another good leash tug got her over the line for her record finish. 

Mersey’s owner hopes that next year she can establish a new canine performance benchmark in some other Saranac Lake Winter Carnival competition. Perhaps the frying pan toss.

Mersey spots the other owner taking her photo, causing her to stop momentarily before crossing the finish line.

Following the race, Mersey posed for photos in the carnival’s ice palace with Dusty and the two owners, nudged up to strangers who expressed interest in her, and gladly hopped back into the car for the ride home, where, unencumbered by her auspicious performance, she took a nap. 

Race photos by Claire Marziotti. Ice Palace photo taken by the person who was next to us in the photo line.

Well…Obviously

Obviously I’ve been watching a lot of Buffalo Sabres post-game interviews because the team’s go-to conversational interjection has been seeping into my porous brain and coming out on my keyboard. With the season currently paused for the mid-season all-star break and the Sabres trending toward missing the playoffs for the 13^th consecutive year, I can state with complete confidence that the interview-response opening word-of-choice among team’s players and coaches is, “Obviously.” 

Obviously, I was brought up to understand that when you pick up the conversation, you ease the transition by stating, “Well….” Dictionary.com even includes a definition for the word as an interjection, “used to introduce a sentence, resume a conversation, etc.” So this is legit. 

Obviously, being legit makes it too conventional for the boys (hockey players) in the room (the Sabres locker room).  

In this three-minute interview following the Buffalo Sabres Jan. 23, 2024 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, Sabres forward Casey Mittelstadt served up six “obviouslys” in the first two minutes. Obviously, that’s one every 20 seconds.

The o-word obsession is apparent any time a Sabre is interviewed before or after games, or between periods. But not when they are mic’ed up during games. Then they say, for example, “You got robbed,” rather than, “Obviously, you should’ve scored on that one.” 

Obviously, hearing the o-word triggers questions. Do our reporters just ask bad questions? If so, why doesn’t somebody replace them? And what about the players, why do they bother answering such obvious questions? Doesn’t every Johnny Hockeypuck already know the answer? And if so, why do they bother watching?

Hell, why am I watching?

Obviously, that’s a question I’ll be asking myself again when the Sabres are back in action this Tuesday, Feb. 6. 

Photo at the top of the page by Obvious Lee, also known as deepstereo – https://www.flickr.com/photos/deepstereo/9613154297, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63937469