#Calamity Jane ep 10

[tvrundownusa]

tvrundown USA 2024.06.14

Friday, June 14th:

(exclusive): NFL Draft: "The Pick Is In" (Roku), Camp Snoopy (apple+, animated family series premiere), Blood Free (hulu, Korean sci-fi thriller, all 10 eps), Joko Anwar's "Nightmares and Daydreams" (netflix, sci-fi/horror anthology, all 7 eps)

(movies): "Ultraman: Rising" (netflix, family anime, 2hrs), "The Sintern" (TUBI, thriller, ~100mins), "Calamity Jane" (TUBI, western, ~95mins), "Exhuma" (Shudder, Korean supernatural horror, 2hrs+15mins), "BRATS" (hulu, the Hollywood Brat Pack documentary), "Maharaj" (netflix, pulled due to backlash)

(streaming weekly): The Big Cigar (apple+, limited series finale), The Chi (Para+), RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (Para+), Drag Race: Untucked (Para+), Perfect Match (netflix, next 3 eps), Doctor Who (dsn+, in primetime)

(specials): Greatest #AtHome Videos (CBS, Fathers Day Edition)

(hour 1): Power [Book II]: Ghost (Starz), The Big Bakeover (theCW, store advice reality premiere)

(hour 2): Guy's All-American Road Trip (FOOD), Totally Funny Animals (theCW) / . / Totally Funny Kids (theCW)

(hour 3): Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO), Deb's House (WEtv|AllBlk, rap music competition premiere)

(hour 4 - latenight): Fantasmas (HBO), Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter (IFC|AMC+)

[docholligay]

So, as I was just incessantly yammering about, there are two American Wests.

1) The actual American West: A Victorian-era time and place in American (and Canadian) history, after the Civil War, where the combination of new lands being brought into the US and Canadian fold, the instability of America after the Civil War, and the rush of technology created a truly unique historical place and time whose only real ‘competition’ is Australia, but it very very mild as compares.  It was a very difficult, boundary pushing, emotionally complicated and constantly churning place and culture. People often found the measure of themselves, and sometimes had to be disappointed with what they found. Other places have ELEMENTS of the Am-Can West--cattle ranching and driving as we understood it came from South America and Mexico--but the unique socio-historical elements really have no parallel, which is a large part of why for many years, European and Asian ‘audiences’ really got into it, which I think is neat. I always regret that I never met Jetty’s grandfather because he would have been so fucking delighted that I can ride a horse and shoot a revolver and have branded cattle.

2) The West(tm). This is Bonanza, this is John Wayne, this is the Dollars trilogy. This is the idea of the shootout at high noon. This is good sheriff versus bad gang. This is lone gunslinger coming to save the town, which is itself, given its popularity in the 60s and 70s, a cultural view of America AS gunslinger, coming in to save others from threats (communism). Watching the old Mag 7 against the new is fascinating because it really accurately portrays the changing American ideas of anxiety and evil, as well as good*. This is where the phrase white hat black hat COMES FROM, is the very old Westerns had sheriffs in white hats, and villains in black hats. Where Doc was clever and erudite and likeable and tragic instead of a short-tempered, endlessly bitter, alcoholic, terminally ill, racist for his TIME motherfucker**.

Where Martha Jane Canary*** was Calamity Jane.

We are CLEARLY in option two, and let’s be clear I really don’t expect different in a children’s cartoon. I mean, the damn thing is CALLED “the LEGEND of Calamity Jane” not “The mostly sad and pathetic reality of Martha (Calamity) Jane Canary). I am chuckling at the fact that she apparently uses a whip instead of a gun I mean not sound like a complete American here, but what is even the point of a western if you aren’t using a gun? Especially because apparently the naughty bads use guns. If you bring a whip to a gun fight you are just going to get shot, kids, mark my words. I mean, I’m not suggesting the kiddies pick up guns but I’m also not suggesting they go after the guys with guns, so.

Also I love that they have her as sexy. This is Calamity Jane:

Contrary to popular belief, she didn’t wear men’s clothes all that often. That became a part of her legend, and she wore them for photo opportunities as part of her shtick. It’s actually why she became famous. Actually perhaps that’s ungenerous. She was a wild, interesting, charming and funny woman, who was a rampant alcoholic and fantastically fun liar. But, she got her start because she was with a camp and happened to be in men’s clothing for practicality’s sake, and he snapped her picture because it was such an odd thing, to be a woman wearing men’s clothes, and not trying to hide anything about that. Jane was just...pragmatic to a point, but not pragmatic enough to realize passing as a man was 87 times safer, which is why that’s what many women who dressed in men’s clothing for whatever reason did.

My favorite fact about Calamity Jane is that when she died, the Gardiner, MT, newspaper’s headline was “Calamity Jane Finally Does the Right Thing” which is so darkly hilarious to me, please don’t let anyone tell you people had a sense of propriety back then, at least not out West--the East was still trying to impress Daddy England and so the social rules were different there.

*Also I really wish that had done better, it was really, really fantastic to see a movie by a black man about the American West that showed a lot of understanding of, and love for, both the American West and the American Western, and imagining his place in it. And it was just, fun. It was a fun fucking movie.

** People always assume I ‘like Doc’ which I suppose in a sense I do because I find him fucking fascinating, and he is fairly unique among Western figures in his background, his education, his aims and history. LOVE reading about him, I just think he’s NEAT. But uh....don’t make the mistake that I LMM him and want to suck his dick or nothin. He was terrible. Like, pretty much irredeemable, if I were to believe in the concept of a person being so. he certainly never got his shit together before he died.

***this is pronounced kænərɪ, or, to be less precise, closer to cannery, not like canary (the bird).

[concerthopperblog]

20 Standout Roots and Americana Albums of 2020: 20-11

It's tough to think of very much good about 2020, much less “best” or favorite”, unless you count it almost being over. But, while those of us who love live music (and you can guess, at a site called “Concert Hopper” that's all of us) have been suffering, one result of artists being off the road is that it's given them time to create some stellar albums. Even keeping to roots music, culling down my list of favorites to 20 was a chore, and I left some very worthy albums on the table. Note I said “favorite” there, not “best.” Plenty of sites will be giving you the “best” albums over the next few weeks. I'm not that vain. As Concert Hopper's resident roots music consumer, I'm one man with one set of ears. I can't possibly hear even 1/10th of all the albums released in a year, much less tell you what is the best. My hope is that, in the 20 albums contained in this and the forthcoming article, you will find something you haven't heard before, or something that you may have, but need to give another try.

A note on my methodology, just to curb the outrage. My list has always excluded live albums, re-records, cover albums, and compilations, just to keep the number manageable. So that's why you won't see Sturgill Simpson's excellent Cuttin' Grass or Margo Price's Perfectly Imperfect listed here. I broke that rule twice this year, but have endeavored to explain why in the individual comments.

But enough housekeeping! Let's get to the first half of what I consider the 20 standout roots and Americana albums of 2020. Where I reviewed the album, I have included a link to the full review. Where I haven't, I have included a Youtube link to one of the album's songs.

20. Antsy McClain- 15 Songs From Isolation For anyone who is a fan of Antsy McClain or his band The Trailer Park Troubadours, it was no surprise that he was one of the first to release a full album of songs written and recorded during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Always a DIY kind of artist, this setup really isn't all that different than many of his albums. The real sell for 15 Songs From Isolation is another of McClain's hallmarks; finding the humor and silver lining in even the darkest moments.

19. Chicago Farmer- Flyover Country “Flyover country” is a pejorative term, supposedly used to by coastal elites to describe the residents of the Midwest and the South, places they only “fly over.” Mostly it's a term used by conservative pundits to fire up those same heartland residents. But it's a perfect title for an album by Chicago Farmer. His songs weave relatable tales about the oddballs and misfits who provide color to any small town; the people who complain about “$13 Beers” at arena shows and spend their paychecks “All in One Place.”

18. Della Mae- Headlight When I first saw them as the opening at at Americanafest's smallest venue a few years back, I knew Della Mae was going to be something special. Since that time, the lineup has changed and the people wanting to see them wouldn't fit in The Station Inn. But the things I loved then, a firm grounding in roots traditions with a willingness to experiment with new sounds and inject a much needed dose of feminist fire into a bluegrass genre that has traditionally been fairly chauvinistic, is present in spades on Headlight, bolstered greatly by assistance from gospel vocalists The McCrary Sisters, who should be contractually obligated to appear on any album with a chorus.

17. KIT- EP When I put this list together, having Della Mae and KIT next to each other was an accident; but it ended up being a fun one. I discovered KIT aka Katie Wighton's band All Our Exes Live in Texas in the exact same circumstances as Della Mae. Following the Australian folksters on social media led me to Wighton's solo debut. For those looking for Exes type harmony, you're out of luck. Instead, KIT uses her freedom to explore power pop, punk, and country soul. At an economical 15 minute run time, KIT won't take you long to sample, and it's as good a quarter hour as you'll spend all year.

16. Secret Emchy Society- The Chaser While Queer Country has been around for decades, it's just now grown enough to start to get noticed, and many people misunderstand the label, thinking they're signing up for “message” songs about inclusion. While that exists if it's what you want, it's not what you'll find on The Chaser. Instead, Secret Emchy Society simply wants to be out (and if you think all that's over, go look up the furor around “Girl Crush” a few years back) while producing a slate of hard living, hard drinking, and hard fighting barroom country. Album standout “Whiskey Fightin’ Terri” sounds like Waylon Jennings' lyrics if interpreted by Robin Weigert's Calamity Jane from Deadwood.

15. Cinder Well- No Summer The most rewarding part of this job is finding bands you've never heard and likely never would have without a random press release. For me this year, that was Cinder Well. The “doom folk” group formed by Irish singer-songwriter Amelia Baker has one of the most original takes on roots music of 2020, and one that fits the year. Owing as much to the atmospheric dread of early Black Sabbath as to Appalachian and British folk, Baker has crafted the perfect album for the isolation and desperation felt by many during a year best forgotten. Cinder Well is a band I hope to keep with me long after this pandemic is over.

14. Whitney Rose- We Still Go to Rodeos Another Americanafest discovery for me, Canadian Whitney Rose came to prominence with a voice as sweet as Skeeter Davis and an attitude as big as Joan Jett. After recording two albums with her musical mentor Raul Malo from The Mavericks, We Still Go to Rodeos is Rose's declaration of independence, as well as her first full-length album to fully embrace the musical influences of her new home in Austin. Working with producer Paul Kolderie, known as much for working with rockers like Radiohead and Morphine as with roots artists, Rose pushes her own boundaries with the addition of rock guitars while retaining the unique style that gained her fans in the first place.

13. Sawyer Fredericks- Flowers For You Most fans who know Sawyer Fredericks know him from his winning turn on singing competition show The Voice in 2015. But to lump him in with the glut of “reality TV singers” would be a mistake. After walking away from the mainstream to record the excellent blues-folk Hide Your Ghost in 2018, the 21 year old singer evolves again, tapping into the chemistry of his road band to become not a solo artist, but more of an Americana Alice Cooper, a band that just happens to have the same name as its singer. Flowers For You also sees Fredericks evolving as a songwriter, especially on the socially charged (and instrumentally intense) album highlight “Call It Good”, decrying a culture where markets throw away perfectly good food while people starve.

12. X- Alphabetland “Wait,” some of you are saying right now, “X, like the LA punk pioneers? In a roots music list?” Yes, because X has always had a core of Carl Perkins' rockabilly sound that drove their punk fury. After a couple of decades of solo exploration in the country scene by band founders Exene Cervenka and John Doe, their first X album since 1993 ramps up the rockabilly influences even more. Reunion albums are a hit or miss prospect. X hit it out of the park. Even in their '60s, Doe and Cervenka can out-rock and out-snarl any given Warped Tour lineup combined.

11. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings- All the Good Times Are Past and Gone When I told you I was breaking my “no covers albums” rule this year, this is where I do it. I could try to make a good excuse for that, but the simple explanation is that Gillian Welch and David Rawlings are so consistently solid in anything they do, any release deserves a place on any year-end list. On All the Good Times Are Past and Gone, recorded acoustic and at home on reel to reel, Welch and Rawlings take on “traditionals” like the title track, as well a god-like songwriters Bob Dylan and John Prine, who give the album its two shining highlights in Prine's “Hello in There” and Dylan's “Abandoned Love.”

That's it for the first half of my favorite roots albums of 2020. Stay tuned soon for my Top 10, as well as other year wraps to come.

[docholligay]

Jetty going on a hike with me

[docholligay]

IT’S NOT MURDER IF SOMEONE IS TRYING TO ACTIVELY FUCKING KILL YOU.

God, why even bother with a bounty hunter if you’re gonna give her fucking Superman ethics? I mean I know this isn’t actually Jane, that ship has sailed, but I didn’t realize she was gonna be like this. Were all cartoons in the 90s like this? I am realizing right at this second I remember watching like...Sailor Moon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Neither of which killed people on the regular either, but in fairness, USAGI TSUKINO IS NOT A BOUNTY HUNTER.

[docholligay]

This woman has a French accent, and of course that classic French Victorian name, Leilani

[docholligay]

She is threatening to kill his chickens to make him talk. But we actually have to step away, from the conversation, so we can’t hear her say that, and can only hear the result of it. We see someone aiming a revolving rifle, which, in fairness, did exist, but had such intensely serious design flaws I cannot possibly imagine a serious shooter trying to use one, at them from the hills.

So, not only can we not threaten this man’s life, but we cannot risk the idea of children knowing that Jane can threaten to kill a man’s chickens, and have to be given the option to think that she’s, what, going to kidnap them? Not to be an insufferable boomer or anything, but is this why my generation is full of pussies who can’t eat chicken on the bone, or what? Kids, if you’re popping off to McDonald’s, you are ABSOLUTELY FINE with chicken murder. if I was trying to capture someone who’d killed a whole lot of people, preserving the lives of a herd of chickens is not even on my radar.

[docholligay]

I don’t know much about guns, what was the design issue with the revolving rifle?

It's the kind of thing that should make sense on paper, right? But it comes with a small host of big problems.

So the first revolving rifles were percussion/black powder, which was a shitty situation anyhow, but anyway, long story short sometimes all six cylinders would go off ahaha.

Anyway, cartridges solved that problem, but there was still the problem of where your arm lies. When you hold a rifle properly, if it's a revolver style, your arm is gonna be right in the way of where the "bang" goes off, for lack of a better term--the flash and explosion that makes the bullet go. With a lever-action rifle, the bang is diverted in such a way that doesn't happen. Now, in truth, with a cartridge rifle you could probably negate that with a long leather glove to protect your forearm, but they're also inefficient--the way you hold a pistol makes revolvers great for quick fire (relatively) but the way you hold a rifle means that when you go to cock, it's moving further out of relative position, and also more likely to affect your stance, leading to having to reframe your whole fucking shot.

Also apparently, according to this guy I follow who reminds me a bit of my grandad--he is a collector in the true sense, he likes weird, stupid guns because they're neat--it blows hot gas and powder back into your face, and that was with a little .22LR jobbie, to say fucking nothing a bigger caliber.

[docholligay]

please know that I definitely know that the chase is a huge part of westerns, I have seen just...so many. But also I think we are giving a very lazy and boring man a lot of credit here.

[docholligay]

Why do they not head back to the city? You could be sending a telegram or some shit to the sheriff about having Hardin. I mean, in many/most places, there was some level of cooperation between the state and territorial governments, you could have him in a fucking jail right this moment, depending. At the very least they’d let you park him there overnight unless I’ve missing my guess.

[docholligay]

“Must be one of them newfangled wild ass distance rifles. Anyway, hand me my PISTOL” how dumb does he think she is? That I am?

[docholligay]

Are you out of your fucking mind? Now, I am not enough of a gun enthusiast to know when the long-range rifle of that particular ability came into being--my grandad would have known--but I know it wasn’t in common usage. quite a bit of the “could kill a soldier at 1000 yards and anyone behind him” was a myth. 1000 yards is such a long fucking shot, y’all. You cannot possibly understand if you don’t shoot.

A moment’s research tells me it wasn’t even in the Olympics until 1908 even though free rifle was already an event.

EVEN if they have like, a Mauser, which is a WWI “sniper rifle” so too early but it’s the only gun of that vintage and style I’m familiar with, let me tell you what,. accuracy at that distance isn’t just....done by the gun. There’s a whole level of skill behind it, and let me tell you some guy shooting from his high armpit AIN’T DOING IT.

also there’s a reason you don’t stand for this shit. This is a long-range setup

At that distance, every TINY FUCKING TWITCH MATTERS. People who are skilled long-range shooters are extremely good at quieting their bodies, and even then they need a bench. There’s a whole breath-holding thing, etc, I will never be a long-range shooter like this and that’s fine, we all have our gifts.

“They must have one of them newfangled rifles” Oh fuck off not to sound like an NRA fuckl but the rifle doesn’t shoot itself, my dude, he could have the nicest gun under Chstendom and he’s not gonna be able to hit jack or shit like that.

[docholligay]

The fuck. Is this guy shooting from the armpit? I’m sitting here trying to hold this gun, and like, the best I can do is low shoulder. I don’t even have God’s best rifle stance because I’m so fucking small, I generally opt to go sniper style and lay on the ground or balance myself on a rock or something, and yet even I have never fallen to, “Shooting from my armpit, i guess.”

I mean I guess all the ways a revolving rifle suck don’t matter if you have all the skill of a small child playing Duck Hunt, so.

[docholligay]

Ah, I had almost forgotten about you, random native guy and friend. Please stop showing me that you are using it was a horrible fucking design and fell out of favor quickly and all I can think about is how poorly equipped you are.

[docholligay]

Okay so. Trying to wrap my head around this.

Jane can’t have a gun, because only naughty people have guns. But she can take a gun from a naughty, and brandish it.

She cannot openly say, ‘I am going to kill the fuck out of these chickens” but she CAN say, “Law doesn’t say you have to be alive.”

What exactly is the code or whatever they are trying to set with her? I’m not being an asshole here, I’m genuinely boggled. Don’t get me wrong, I am coming down hard on the side of “Law says dead or alive’ll do” as a choice for our bounty huntrix, but it doesn’t fit with the other things she’s been limited from doing. Do they KNOW what kind of character they want her to be?

[docholligay]

“Ma’am I am sorely distressed to hear you speak so.” I like you more than any character I have encountered thus far.

Listen, I get the ‘warring bounty hunters both wanting the money thingg” but what in seven fucks is her hangup, IN UNIVERSE, with killing him? Folks who believe in justice and the law don’t become bounty hunters, they become lawmen. Sheriffs and rangers and the like. All of which can also bring people in. You know who’s a great example of a really really well written lawful good character? Seth in Deadwood. And he becomes sheriff against his better will and judgment. He only wants people to hang under the banner of law. But I can’t get any motivation for her to give a fucking shit.