R.E.M. was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame yesterday, and all four founding members were there to accept the honor.
If you are going to have Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Bill Berry, and Peter Buck in the room together, then we better hear them perform. And that is what they did. The band, who disbanded in 2011, sang their hit Losing My Religion.
It was the first time they publically played together since 2007. That reunion performance with Berry was for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
We are running out of inductions to trick them into performing, so we are going to need a tactic to get them to perform more often, even though they told CBS Mornings that those days are over.
I don’t know why they are. Stipe’s voice is still as haunting as ever,` and the band still sounds great. So why not hit the road to delight us? I bet it would do the same for them.
And as a side note, am I the only one who wishes they had done a different song? Losing My Religion is one of my least favorite songs from them, and it is all about me wanting to hear them sing Stand.
Princess Kate had emergency abdominal surgery at the beginning of the year. We were told that she would need to take some time off and hoped to return to work by Easter.
Shortly before the holiday, she revealed that she was battling cancer and would need even more time off.
Today, the future Queen of England gave us an update on how she is doing and when she plans to return to public life:
I have been blown away by all the kind messages of support and encouragement over the last couple of months. It really has made the world of difference to William and me and has helped us both through some of the harder times.
I am making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days. On those bad days you feel weak, tired and you have to give in to your body resting. But on the good days, when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well.
My treatment is ongoing and will be for a few more months. On the days I feel well enough, it is a joy to engage with school life, spend personal time on the things that give me energy and positivity, as well as starting to do a little work from home.
I’m looking forward to attending The King’s Birthday Parade this weekend with my family and hope to join a few public engagements over the summer, but equally knowing I am not out of the woods yet.
I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty. Taking each day as it comes, listening to my body, and allowing myself to take this much needed time to heal.
Thank you so much for your continued understanding, and to all of you who have so bravely shared your stories with me.
May she have more good days than bad, and may she beat cancer. Gd bless the future Queen!
Kevin and Michael Bacon, aka The Bacon Brothers, perform “Footloose” as the song’s co-writer Dean Pitchford gets inducted into the 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame class pic.twitter.com/zIMqhKGn7k
For forty years, we have seen Kevin Bacon dance to Footloose. But I don’t remember hearing him sing it.
Yesterday, during the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Bacon Brothers sang the song for the thrilled audience.
The song is just one of the many great tunes that Dean Pitchford wrote, and that is why he was given the honor.
And now let’s talk about Kevin singing the single that is synonymous with him. Dare I say it, but I think it might even be better than Kenny Loggins’ version. And I fucking love the original. What do you think?
I am a child of the ’80s who grew up with the Brat Pack and their movies. So, I was like, what is wrong with them for not wanting to be associated with the title?
Therefore, I have been anxiously waiting for Brats since Andrew McCarthy announced it almost two years ago.
When ABC News Studios and Hulu announced that they were going to be streaming it, I felt like a teenager getting excited to see one of their films in a movie theater.
The Brat Pack was an article written in 1985 by David Blum for New York Magazine. It was a feature on three up-and-coming actors, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, and Judd Nelson.
Estevez was the main subject because he and Lowe were promoting their film St. Elmo’s Fire, which came out that same month. Which as we know, was a huge hit and propelled a group of actors from playing teenagers to portraying adults in film.
This was supposed to launch their careers as 20-somethings. But then the article came out, and the actors who were considered members of the Brat Pack felt it stalled their careers.
So much so that they don’t talk to each other, and some of them have not seen their co-stars since the movies came out.
McCarthy, after the success of his book Brat: An ’80s Story, decided to do a documentary about what it was like to be a member of the Brat Pack.
If you ask any ’80s kid what they would do to be a member of the Brat Pack, they will tell you that they would sell their soul. However, the members hated it.
McCarthy traveled to LA, and the first actor who is featured is Estevez. You can tell he didn’t want to do this interview because he is still dealing with the ramifications of being named a Brat.
Next, he talks to Ally Sheedy, who is a little more accepting of it. But she also has problems with being declared a member.
So, at this point, I am not loving the doc. I hate that they are shitting on such a remarkable legacy.
But then he talks to Demi Moore and Rob Lowe, and they wear the title with honor. Lowe says they opened the door for future teenagers. And now I am enjoying it a little more.
McCarthy also spoke to Blum about his inspiration for the article. He did not mean any harm with the article or the title. But he does admit that as a 29-year-old writer, he was pompous and made mistakes. He also agreed that some of the article was mean, yet he wouldn’t change it.
At this point, I am not sure how I feel about the doc. My BFF from my teenage years loved it. She texted me, “Andrew McCarthy for President!”
I decided to take a breather. And by breather, I mean read the article that started it all.
And that is where everything changes and how I feel about them hating being in the Brat Pack. They have every reason to be pissed. And it looks like it destroyed most of their careers because most of them never had a hit like they did in 1985.
They suddenly became typecasted with a title, not for their work. We will never know what could’ve been. But it was intriguing to hear where they are today and who still holds a grudge.
In case you are wondering how bad this article is, here is the only mention of McCarthy in it: “And of Andrew McCarthy, one of the New York–based actors in St. Elmo’s Fire, a co-star says, ‘He plays all his roles with too much of the same intensity. I don’t think he’ll make it.’ The Brat Packers save their praise for themselves.”
If I was an actor in my early 20s with the world about to become my oyster and I read that about myself, I would be fucking pissed too.
That is just half a paragraph. They were not shown in the best light in the cover story, and I felt bad for them. It was a tough read. And Brats is light-hearted as compared to Blum’s words.
So now, I appreciate the doc. I have been telling my friends to watch Brats and then read the article. I think you need to go into it with an open mind. I also think if you watch it, you need to read the article because it puts everything into perspective.
There is so much more I can say about the feature, but you need to read it. It is more important for you to watch the program.
McCarthy needs to do more documentaries because he gets people to open up and make them feel comfortable. That, and you want to know more about the story as he is telling it.
And I am saying all of this as someone who was Team Steph (James Spader) in Pretty in Pink.
