Drive-By Truckers bring Southern charm to Yankee territory

Hard to believe it had been nine years since I last saw the Drive-By Truckers, and even longer since I've seen co-leader Patterson Hood, who was out with walking pneumonia for that show.

Also hard to believe, as long as I've been coming to the Adirondacks, that I'd never seen a show at the Saratoga (N.Y.) Performing Arts Center, an outdoor amphitheater. Stanton, Jason, and I scored sweet seats about 15 rows back in the center, thanks to Rachel's grandmother's "patron" status at SPAC.

The sound was a little too muffled for my taste during the Truckers' set (it oddly sounded clearer when I wandered on the lawn out back). Of course, there is never any comparing to D.C.'s 9:30 Club, where I last saw the band and which always has immaculate sound.

The setlist leaned heavy on the American Band LP, which I ranked as the 36th best of 2016. They played "Ramon Casino," "Darkened Flags on the Cusp of Dawn," "Surrender Under Protest," and "Kinky Hypocrite" from that release. All strong mid-tempo chuggers.

Some of the definite highlights were off the Truckers' classic albums, including the Skynyrd-y "Sink Hole" from 2003's Decoration Day, "Let There Be Rock" from 2002's Southern Rock Opera, and Hood's epic slow burners "A Ghost to Most" from 2008's Brighter Than Creations Dark and "Babies in Cages," which obviously couldn't have been more timely, as America currently licks its chops at taking great pride in ripping families apart from each other.

My favorite was "Marry Me," off Decoration Day, which may be their best best, most signature track. Bassist Matt Patton's (formerly of the excellent Dexateens) showcase Ramones' cover "The KKK Took My Baby Away" was my second favorite moment of the night.

Also, I liked openers The Marcus King Band, and headliners Tedeschi Trucks Band was entertaining too, as the place really became electric once the sun went down after the Truckers' set.

Drive-By Truckers: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Hamilton is inspiring in many ways, including rereading about the Revolutionary War

After seeing Hamilton on Broadway, the inevitable next step is to dig back into Revolutionary War literature. I figure one place to start and not go wrong is with acclaimed author David McCullough. 

His book 1776 opens with, in 1775, despite much opposition in the press and throughout the country to the troubling war in America, King George III addressing a whopping 60,000 people in London’s St. James Park. Can you imagine that many people gathering back then?

Having seen the crazed wickedness of George on hilarious display in the musical, some of the small personal details at the start of 1776 are well worth lapping up, such as his “whitest hands ever seen” with a large red ring on them and the four-ton exceedingly elaborate carriage he had made to carry him around London. Many found the King a bit dull and, unlike in the play, he refused to wear a huge white wig, the fashion of the time.

George was steadfast throughout his life, even in his later “mad” life, that America must obey England, even though he had never been a soldier or to America, or the Scotland and Ireland which he often praised.

The play, by the way, is every bit as astounding as everyone says. It was also fun sitting in the 10th row center with the likes of Jerry from Parks and Recreation and film and TV star Alfre Woodard of St. Elsewhere and 12 Years a Slave.

Could a little lake in the Adirondacks have the best fireworks show in America?

Every year, I vacation in upstate New York during the Fourth of July week. Doesn't seem like there would be much of a fireworks show on a lake in the Adirondacks, right?

Well, every year we end up marveling at the display put on by our neighbors (swimming-pool magnates), who entertain people partying at the house, watching from boats in the water, and along the stretching road in front of their house.

And every year I say that this private show seems every bit as big as the fireworks back home in Washington D.C. Sounds preposterous, I know, seeing as D.C. has what is routinely considered the best fireworks in the country alongside the Macy's event in New York City.

I don't know the actual answer, so I'll go on thinking we get the best personalized Fourth of July fireworks show, right up there with big-time shindigs in San Diego, Philadelphia, San Francisco and others listed by USA Today as the "top 10 fireworks cities in the U.S."

UFO mysteries and Americana in Upstate New York for the Fourth of July

The village of Northville, New York may only have about 1,000 residents, but it knows how to throw a Fourth of July parade.

We took the kids there for the hour-long event today and the streets brimmed with people enjoying the height of Americana, with marching bands, bagpipes, muscle cars, fire trucks, and more from throughout the Sacandaga region of the souther Adirondacks.

Northville was once a high hill, but when the valley was flooded for the Sacandaga Reservoir in 1930, the new lake came right up to the village line. Today there were long lines of cars leaving after the parade to cross back across the lake and onto New York Route 30.

It's a really cute little place about 20 minutes north of my wife Rachel's family's lake house near Mayfield. We bought our Adirondack dinning room table set there, and it has a five-and-dime store (pictured) that overflowed with just about everyone from the parade, as streams of children filled the place to get candy and toys from their parents.

Northville even has a pop-culture claim to fame. Although the episode wasn't actually shot there, producers allegedly called town leaders to get factual details of how an X-Files alien abduction could be set in the town, with investigators in the story even finding a UFO at the bottom of Lake Sacandaga.

The Warriors: Book Versus Movie

Because The Warriors was released in theaters in 1979, it has always been considered part of a relatively cheesy era (like yacht rock, which was at its peak at the time).

But not only was it famous for knocking Star Wars out of the number-one box-office spot, it was really influential to me when when I first saw it as a freshman at Southern Illinois University. I watched it again and again, both scared of the gang life it depicted and transfixed by the thought of getting to New York City someday.

I think it sparked my love affair with subway systems, as much of the action takes place on late-night platforms and in trains filled with the dregs of society and people with long and unfortunate backstories that we'll never know.

The movie, ranked as my 22nd overall, does a great job of personalizing and humanizing each of the members of The Warriors, a gang framed for the killing of the city's top gangster and has to make it back to their home turf of Coney Island without being picked off in all the enemy territories they have to make it through on the way.

There are many differences between the film and the book that is the basis for the film, which was written by Sol Yurick (pictured) in 1965 and which I just finished reading. Based on the book and film, it appears New York City didn't change much between 1965 and 1979. It was a fascinating, dangerous, and dark place, filled with Times Square prostitutes, unruly and barely-parented street children, and suspicious and violent policemen.

In the book, the title "The Warriors" refers to all the gangs of the city, which are attempting to band together to overthrow all the non-gangsters before the plan quickly turns into chaos. The Coney Island gang is actually named The Dominators in the novel. And they are much less lovable than in the movie, going so far as to brutally rape a girl and viciously murder a mostly innocent passerby.

Other key differences: All the names of the gang are changed, six of the Warriors make it home from that fateful night whereas only four of the Dominators do, and there is really no framing of the Dominators for the top gangster's murder as are the Warriors in the movie.

The book is a great and quick read. The negatives are that I kept waiting for one of the gang members to fall into the subway or meet some of the other endings that the movie gangsters so deliciously met. Some of the scenes are overly long considering that much less often happens in them compared to the unrelenting action of the film. The good news is that if you love the movie, then there are enough differences to make the book well worth reading.

**** out of ***** stars

Cate Blanchett Cracks Up in Blue Jasmine

For last year's Blue Jasmine, Director Woody Allen was clearly inspired by the whole Bernie Madoff financial mess. It's a dramedy about a woman named Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) whose mental state is collapsing from years of fooling herself into thinking her husband (Alec Baldwin) is a good and honest man.

At the start of the film, Jasmine is leaving her once-lavish life in New York to go live with her distant sister in San Francisco. It opens as she is trying to rationalize her living-in-denial life to a complete stranger in the airport. Through a series of flashbacks, we see how she got to this point as she tries to pull it back together out west. 

Some critics said the movie is Allen's dig at his ex-wife Mia Farrow, with whom he has had an ugly, lengthy, public falling out. Whatever the case, Blanchett is nothing short of spellbinding as a cracked person. It's no wonder she won just about every best-actress trophy last year, including the Oscar.

As for where Blue Jasmine fits within my list of Woody Allen's best films, I say it's his eighth best, right after Vicky Christina Barcelona and before Everyone Says I Love You.

****1/2 out of ***** stars

Classic Reads: Cooperstown Presents Setting for a Sad Ending in Native-American History

Most people today – when they think of The Last of the Mohicans – might cite a reference to the 1992 movie with Daniel Day-Lewis or the fact that the Hawkeye character from M*A*S*H was nicknamed that by his father as a tribute to the book.

That book is a real powerhouse and was published way back in 1826 by James Fenimore Cooper, who can safely be called the first major novelist in U.S. history.

Cooper notably came of age on his father’s huge property along the Susquehanna River in Upstate New York. As more people moved in around this land, the village eventually was named Cooperstown – now home of today’s baseball Hall of Fame museum.

Cooper grew up around both Indians and pioneers, so he brings a great first-hand knowledge of what life was like in the area during the war between France and England that had spilled into North America. 

A small group of British settlers is trying to make it from one British fort to another before French troops can attack them.

Hawkeye, a brave and savagely civilized white scout is recruited – along with some of the dwindled Mohican tribe – to lead the group on their dangerous journey. At one point, they are trapped in a cave by the enemy when Hawkeye and the Mohicans are persuaded by two British sisters Cora and Alice to escape by swimming underwater down river.

Cora and Alice are captured, by Hawkeye and the Mohicans survive and track their captors, led by Magua, a displaced Canadian Huron Indian who had once been beaten by the sisters’ father. He swears to capture them and take Cora as his wife and slave. Cora, a tough chick to say the least, wasn’t buying it, and just as Magua is about to massacre his prisoners, Hawkeye and the Mohicans swarm in, killing all the Huron gang except Magua, who escapes.

They make their way to their intended destination and the women are reunited with their father, but it is not long before Magua and the French invade and a bloodbath ensues. Again Magua kidnaps Cora and Alice and takes them into the woods. Again Hawkeye retrieves them and also saves Uncas, who is the “last Mohican” of the title. Believe it or not, there are more back-and-forth kidnappings of Alice, Cora, and Uncas before this epic tale ends.

Magua and his cronies kill Cora and Uncas before Hawkeye is able to use his rifle to shoot and kill Magua as he dangles precariously at the edge of a cliff. A sad ending and, as we knew it would happen, “the last of the Mohicans” expires.

Except for the slightly wordy and outdated language within the book, frontier tales don’t get much more important, adventurous, and rollicking than this.

****1/2 out of *****

Laughing in New York City With John Oliver

I forgot to write about my spring trip to New York City with my buddy Peter, so I just wrote about New York the last time I went up there instead. 

But it's not that that time many months ago wasn't worth writing about. I was reminded of it recently when Peter sent me this screen capture of us on Comedy Central (that's me second from right and Peter third from right). The John Oliver comedy special aired many months after we saw it filmed as well. 

It was a little odd. One, Oliver is one of my least-favorite parts of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. Two, they made us sit for about five hours without food, drink, or bathroom breaks while they filmed two loooong episodes in a row. Three, it took us away from carousing the streets of Manhattan, which is one of my favorite things to do in this life.

I preferred the other comedy show we saw that long-ago weekend, the one that happened at 1:30 a.m. in the Comedy Cellar with Al Madrigal of The Daily Show. 

Jackson's First Tall-Buildings Themed Weekend in New York City

I forgot to write about my spring trip to New York City with my buddy Peter, when we stayed at a hotel overlooking the World Trade Center and took in a bunch of comedy, including a 1:30 a.m. show at the Comedy Cellar with Al Madrigal and a taping of two John Oliver specials. 

Reasonable hotel options appear to be a theme these days in the Big Apple. Jackson and I took the Amtrak up to meet Rachel this weekend, who is working there for the week. At $125 a night on Priceline, we found the fun Hudson Hotel, in which our room was the size of a cruise-ship bedroom but we had access to a beautiful, funky, and trendy 15th-floor roofdeck, another garden bar and lounge, and a great location on West 58th and 9th Avenue.

This was billed as a "tall buildings weekend" and Jackson, at nearly five-years-old, is the perfect age to have his first NYC experience. I think it really made an impression on him. He asked several times on the train ride home when we would next return there.

Things went as planned and the little guy did not complain about walking all over the place. 

Friday night consisted of walking from Penn Station through Times Square and to our hotel. Saturday was fun in the wonderful Central Park water play area before heading to Rachel's work in East River Park in the Lower East Side. Jackson and I took a bike ride for about six miles along the extensive trails between the Manhattan Bridge and 25th Street. Then we had delicious Indian food with our friend Lori (she's a Jackson fave). Sunday was an easy trip up 30 Rock (thanks co-worker Elizabeth for the recommendation) with no wait and easily a much better use of time than waiting in the always-long lines at the Empire State Building.

And we're back in DC. Why I'm not already asleep, I'm not sure. Goodnight.

Date Night Not a Match with Funny

Well, I just keep seeing really bad movies lately. Does Netflix have any good new releases?

You would think Tina Fey and Steve Carell would have a pretty difficult time making a stinker. Especially when they also lure Marky Mark Wahlberg, Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Wiig, Common, Ray Liotta, Mila Kunis, James Franco, and Leighton Meester.

Somehow Date Night raked in some pretty good box-office cash and critics didn't totally blast it. I guess the action side of the movie made a lot of people happy. Action isn't my forte, and when this movie is funny, it's really only kinda funny.

Carell and Fey play an accountant and a real-estate agent who lead a typical married life in the Jersey suburbs. When they decide to go out into Manhattan for a date, Carell steals somebody's reservation at a hot restaurant called Claw (where they answer the phones: "Claw. You're welcome"). Then a case of mistaken identity sets in and the couple has to replicate Carell's spy-action performance in Get Smart.

This could have been so much more than a big payday for two of TV's biggest laugh makers.

** out of ***** stars