Clarke and Dawe

A couple weeks ago, Craig Bruhn, North Eugene high school's student body president my senior year, not so long ago, posted a clip from an Australian sketch comedy team, Clarke and Dawe.  

It piqued my interest, so I looked into these guys, and have watched a few (less than a hundred) of their clips.  Much of my humor is dry – some dry as dirt.  But, for my money, it's the best deadpan humor since Pat Paulson ran for president. 

Their regular setup is that Dawe is interviewing a corporate or government exec (Clarke), and can never get a straight answer from him.  

Some of the skits land like a thud in my American ears, without the Australian context.  But lots of them, like this one, require no translation!  

Clarke and Dawe - Aircraft Carrier

Born to Run

With all the antics going on in Washington, it's so tempting for me to post about politics.  But I'm finding that I get along better if I am less controversial.

In order to avoid controversy, and maintain a warm consensus among friends, I would like to simply share an interesting fact.  

Bruce Springsteen's timeless 1975 album, Born to Run, is the best Rock and Roll album ever recorded.  It's not even close.  

This album has everything, with each song making a contribution that is indispensable to the whole.  With no aspersions to any other cut, I believe that Jungleland has all the elements that define excellence in this genre; composition that changes mood from intense and loud to whisper-quiet,  lyrics that could stand alone without musical accompaniment as poetry – evoking a sense of place and time that irresistibly draws the listener to the gritty 1960s-70s streets of working-class New Jersey; all supported by unsurpassed unique contributions contributions from throughout the band – particularly the saxophone solo by the late, great Clarence Clemons.  

I'd love to know what other albums people particularly appreciate ... with the understanding that anything else is competing for second.  

Jungleland