1. Deborah G. sent me a wonderful email about her awe for Elton John/Bernie Taupin and told me that she'd enjoyed the movie, Rocketman. Rocketman has been in the back of mind since its release. Deborah's comments were just the push I needed to rent it and watch it.
I didn't know anything about the movie as it got underway and thoroughly enjoyed how it crossed genres, moving back and forth between being a biographical movie and a musical. I enjoyed the set song and dance pieces. They made the movie pleasantly surreal for me and helped me experience and understand Taupin and John's songs in fresh ways. The movie made me think back to the days about 35-40 years ago when I watched a ton of MTV videos and the way the best of music videos expanded my experience with any number of songs and gave me a lot of enjoyment. I had just that experience throughout the movie.
2. When I watched the Classic Albums episode on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I enjoyed Elton John's calm intelligence, his low key and candid manner. Knowing how flamboyant he was as a younger man on stage and knowing that much of his on stage and off stage drama was fueled by his drug and alcohol abuse, I enjoyed the sober Elton John. Sobriety had helped his better self emerge and thrive.
So, when Deborah told me that she had enjoyed Elton John: Uncensored (kind of a hyperbolic title. . . but, oh well), I found it on Amazon Prime and tuned in. The interview took place in 2019 in support of Rocketman coming out and the publication of his autobiography, Me. Graham Norton conducted the interview and gave Elton John plenty of room to tell stories, both funny and serious, reflect on his past and present, to talk calmly and candidly about his reckless years and to explain how, upon sobering up, he moved his life toward being a giving person, committed to service to others, especially through his AIDS foundation.
3. I'll take a break from Elton John video material for a while unless I can find a short film he released in 1979 entitled, To Russia. . . with Elton. In an earlier post this week, I mentioned that I was a Showtime subscriber back in 1980 and Showtime ran To Russia . . . with Elton back then. Elton John had decided to take a break from the usual razzle dazzle and pyrotechnics of his arena shows and play a run of concerts featuring him at the piano, accompanied only by the percussion wizard, Ray Cooper.
NEWSFLASH: I just discovered I can purchase a streaming copy of this film on Amazon Prime! I just did it.
I don't necessarily trust the accuracy of memories from over forty years ago. So, even if this didn't happen, my memory makes me think it did and I enjoy the feelings that accompany it, no matter how accurate! My memory is that Roger P. paid my first wife and me a visit in Eugene. I don't remember what else Roger and I did that day, but I remember watching To Russia . . . with Elton together on our black and white television, giving the three of us an hour of enjoying what might later have been called "Elton Unplugged" and also giving us a rare look at the film's shots of the grandeur of Moscow.
As much as anything, thanks to this concert, I became enamored with Ray Cooper. That day, and in performances of his I've seen later, I loved his precision and I loved his antics. I thought he enriched Elton John's performance and gave the concert at Moscow a jolt of playfulness that I completely enjoyed.
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