review – Papablues Scrapbook

This album was sitting prominently on a bookshelf at our county library when were living in University Place, Washington in 1979. The cover grabbed me; art is more impactful when its spread over a 12-inch surface and not squashed onto a five inch CD case. I took it home in a paper bag. Back then I walked everywhere, even to school.

My memory is that I loved that album; maybe I loved some tracks more than others. I wasn’t too familiar with Jackson Browne. I blame FM radio. The only song I’d ever heard from him was back in our house in Fircrest, “Doctor My Eyes”, back in 1972—six years before! I hear “The Pretender” on my store’s radio network NOWADAYS, but most AM-FM stations only played the hits. Critics may have loved him, but most of us (myself at least) were oblivious. After 1979 and checking out that LP, I was more aware of Browne and paying attention more when his songs hit the airwaves.

This LP was recorded on the road, either in concert or into hotel rooms, backstage in at least one case (“Nothing but Time”) on a bus in New Jersey on the way to another gig. Basically it was a travelogue of musicians, by musicians, about life on the road. “Running on Empty”, “The Load-Out” & “Stay” were recorded live at Meriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia, Maryland. “You Love the Thunder” was performed at Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey, while “Love Needs a Heart” was taped in Universal City, California.

Some songs were meant to stick out. The big hit getting airplay in the summer of ’78, along with the music from Grease, was “The Load-Out”, which segued into a cover of Maurice Williams & the Zodiac’s “Stay”. “Stay” was the A-side of a double sided single, backed on vocals by Rosemary Butler and David Lindley on falsetto in the second verse. (To be fair, the Zodiac’s version was short at 1 minute, 36 seconds long).

Other tunes I no longer appreciate on principle, such as “Cocaine”, recorded in a hotel room at a Holiday Inn in Illinois. Having seen the damage drugs had done to my family in the ‘70’s, I’m finding myself of the permissiveness, and also sad for all the artists buried by their addictions.

Some songs I understand better, now that I’m older, especially the title song. No that I’m a musician, but I can relate. The verses make sense in a general way, like this one:

I look around for the friends that I sued to turn to to pull me through/

Lookin’ into their eyes, I see them runnin’ too

There has been a lot of negative pre-release videos critical of Captain America Brave New World on YouTube for months. I haven’t viewed any of them. The consensus seemed to be of impending disaster, literally; oh, this is the end of the MCU, whatever. You’ve probably seen the taglines. If you have, forgit ‘em. This is a really good movie.

I don’t know military life from personal experience. The military has some weird ass standards about not inducting kids with diabetes who might have a low blood sugar incident on the field. Funny, that. But I have grandparents who served with distinction in the Second World War. My dad and his brother Wayne both volunteered and served as radio operators in Alaska during the Korean War. I have two brothers who served in the 1970s, and a niece who defused bombs in Iraq. So, yeah, you could say I’m a relative of veterans. (If I’ve left anyone in the family out, it wasn’t intentional. Sorry.)

The is the first film Anthony Mackie has had to carry the film on his own, at least within the MCU, and that he does. Sam Wilson is a soldier who understands loyalty and duty, and respects the chain of command, even when his president is a man he has no reason to trust. He can carry himself in battle without the shield or flight gear, and certainly without any super soldier serum. But if he has to do things the hard way to clear a good man’s name, even over his president’s stubborn will, that’s what he’s going to do. And that’s America, too.

Danny Ramirez joins the cast as Joaquin Torres, Sam’s sidekick and Falcon-in-training, a role reprised from the Falcon & the Winter Soldier mini-series. I haven’t seen that series so all I have to go on is what I see in the movie. From what I see he’s got a lot of heart, but he’s going to need a lot of mentoring. He seems to have a healthy bond in that regard with Sam Wilson.

Harrison Ford is an excellent choice to step into the role of General Thaddeus Ross, formerly played by the late William Hurt. Hurt brought gravitas and a certain smugness to the role, but he never projected the disdain or rage that should’ve been percolating beneath the surface. With Ford it’s all out there, the temper just ready to explode. His Ross has no time for fools, no patience for anyone who dares to second guess him. Doesn’t sound familiar at all, does it?

At the same time Ford is able to express regret at his failure to connect with his daughter, and that’s as far as I’ll go in the Spoiler Department. At the same time, it’s unfair to represent Ross as a foil for our current president. The scriptwriters were wise enough not to fill Ross’ mouth with the kind of word salads for which Donald Trump is famous.

The plot basically circles around Ross’ legacy, a treaty he’s pulling together which involves a Celestial relic full of adamantium. This motherload is supposed to be harvested for the benefit of all mankind, all that BS, which can be read as mostly for whichever world power who claims it first. This leads to a pitched aerial battle Sam and Joaquin have to defuse with one of our closest allies, and…. nope, that’s all. Go see the movie. This ties in with a legacy hero Cap from the Korean War era, Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), who’d spent 30 years in prison as a reward for his service, thanks to men like Ross.

As with most MCU films there are callbacks to previous projects, like 2008’s The Incredible Hulk especially, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier and Eternals, both from 2021. That being said, it’s refreshing to have at least one movie that’s not bogged down in Multiverse BS. I appreciated being able to follow the action without having to mentally backtrack every thread.

The most disturbing choice for me would be casting Shira Haas, a former IDF soldier as Mossad agent Ruth Bat-Seraph. At a time when her nation is committing genocide, I don’t know what possessed Kevin Faige to commit such a negative creative decision. Her character is exactly the kind of person I’d expect Ross to hire for his personal security. However, there are any number of capable female back-up characters from the Cap comics that could’ve been scripted in. including this character is morally indefensible and may sink an otherwise excellent film at the box office.