A pourri of pot

 Some updates on this and that while waiting to work the CFL MS tournament. 

TV: Finished the Apple TV series “Down Cemetery Road.” It’s based on a book by Slow Horses author Mick Herron, and it shares that show’s nuttily interesting characterizations. In this one, it’s the bad guys that take the cake, namely Adeel Akhtar, Darren Boyd, and especially Fehinti Balogun, but the two leads, Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson, are perfect as well. In all, very likable. 

Movies: “Project Hail Mary” has been garnering mostly rave reviews, and it is unquestionably a fun couple of hours at the movies. I had heard that there were marked differences from the book (which I loved), but aside from the fact that movies are different from books, that’s not at all an issue. This is a fun movie, and on top of that, it’s family-friendly. Definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

Music (audit division): Catching up on a lot of albums…

Sheryl Crow, “Evolution”—Crow is always reliable for some solid rock tracks, and this recent album is no exception.

The Millennium—Wikipedia pegs this as sunshine pop. Yep. In one ear and out the other. 

Sagitarius—Also sort of sunshiney, but much higher quality. I think that I would have liked this album back in 1967. 

Joe South, “Don’t it Make You Want to Go Home”—1968 Country stuff from the mind behind “The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor.” Perfectly good if you want 1968 country stuff. 

McGough & McGear—A comedy album, British music hall stuff, in the wake of Bonzo Dog from Paul McCartney’s brother. This is why McGear is forever known as Paul McCartney’s brother.

Eire Apparent—Directed by listening to "500 Songs" on Jimi Hendrix, this album was produced by Hendrix. That’s its claim to fame, and it does not otherwise stand out. The cover art is emblematic, in any case: these guys look like a 60s rock band, say what you will about them. 

Soft Machine—Frankly, more jazz than rock. So if you’re a jazz rock enthusiast, as good a place to start as any. Mostly, I’m not, so I won't be starting.

Fat Mattress—Still on that Hendrix riff, this band was started by Hendrix bassist Noel Redding. Redding wanted to be Traffic when he grew up, and Chris Wood is even tootling up a storm on one of the tracks, but nothing here really breaks through, and the group did not last very long.

Delbert McClinton and Glen Clark, “Blind, Crippled and Crazy”—I have no idea who Glen Clark is, and I will track down his other music. Like virtually every other Delbert McClinton album (and there’s a million of them), this one has plenty of straight-ahead rock that I immediately threw into my main playlist. 

Santana, “Zebop!”—Another artist with a million albums, all of them with good stuff on them. Santana is one of the most reliable players to emerge from the 60s, from his first album to his latest. If you don’t consider him one of the top rock guitarists of all time, why are you reading this blog?