Ep. 82 Some Netflix Suggestions to Spoon To, The Value of Being Well Rounded and Teen Angst In Any Generation

Welcome to what is probably the last episode of The Modern Moron… for 2020.  Maybe the best thing about this episode is that it's short!  So why include it?  I have a couple of reasons, one being that it's short.  This episode covers the tail end of our conversation where the Senator is getting weepy about people who have died this year in the music entertainment industry and he mentions Eddie Van Halen's passing and I have be en working on an episode on just Eddie Van Halen which I will probably never finish.  The second reason, and this is the main reason, is that The Senator, in his fantasy world, mentions in passing that people consider him to be a well rounded person.  And I don't let this go.  Most of  us think about our selves most of the time… what's on my to-do list, what am I doing right now… what's my level of hunger,  what should I eat… it's  human nature to some degree.  Think of yourself for example… right now.  You may be driving or exercising or some other task.  Most podcasts are listened to while multitasking. But the Senator… in his delusion thinks that at some point in your day, your thinking of him.  That's right.  You're thinking of him and what a well rounded person he is.  Do you think that's a preposterous notion?  I do.  My ego might think that someone is thinking harshly of me or kindly of me, but I have some common sense to snap out of that notion and realize: no one is thinking of me, nor should they.  That's not low self esteem or high self esteem, it's just a fact.  Most of us spend the majority of our day thinking about our self and we are doing, what we've done in the past or what we will be doing.  Human nature.  But the Senator thinks most people, at some point in the day, stop and marvel at what a well rounded person he is.  Like a very stable genius might.   We start talking about musicians and it turns into a circle jerk about all the concerts we've been to in our lives, truly disgusting.  Disgusting but relatively brief.   And we do mention a couple of documentaries that might be worth your time, especially if you like documentaries about musicians and the music industry.  Netflix has several and two of them are about music executives, Clive Davis and the other is about a guy named Clarence Avant whose career spans not only the music industry but film, television and politics as well.  It's called "The Black Godfather".   Again, we pick up the conversation with The Senator mentioning musicians that have passed away this year, af few of which include the great song writer John Prine, Charlie Pride, Hellen Reddy, Mac Davis, Charlie Daniels, Kenny Rogers, Little Richard, Bill Withers, jazz great Ellis Marsalis who is the father of 4 great jazz musicians including Wynton Marsalis and Branford Marsalis, the great drummer from Rush, Neal Peart and many others including as the senator mentions, Eddie Van Halen… Another music business based docu-series you might want to check out on Netflix is called "Song Exploder" in which they interview an artist and drill down into the elements of creating a particular song, from lyrics to sound design and production to the way it was received by listeners.  I don't think this is a show you would necessarily watch every episode but that's okay because each episode is a stand alone with a different artist in every episode.  I've only watched one so far and I thought it was really good.  The artist is Trent Reznor who doesn't really fall smack dab into our demographic.  He was the frontman for a group in the early 90's calle Nine Inch Nails.  What we would call Goth or a 90's version of punk rock without the punk rock tempo.  You know, dark suicidal teen angst stuff.  Real wholesome stuff.  Every generation has it right?  Those teen years where no one understands you and you're questioning why you were put on this planet and no one gets it.  You know, a good old ego trip.  I never outgrew mine.  As I said in the last episode, for me, it was Karen Carpenter and "Goodbye To Love".  I'll put this song up against any teen angst in any generation… from the Who to The Sex Pistols to the Clash to… Nirvana!  I mean, they named their band Nirvana for Christ's sake.  That's a happy name!  I think Mr. Reznor would agree about the that Carpenters song.  And by the way, Trent Reznor was able to move past those feelings that many youths feel.  He's won an academy award for best original score in the movie the Social Network.   Scraps: Island of Misfit Toys - Conan O'brien | YouTube  Carpenters Goodbye To Love - The Carpenters | YouTube