The first day of May reminds me of one of my favorite albums, Matthew Ryan’s May Day from 1997. Ryan — who grew up in Chester, Pennsylvania and later moved to Tennessee — has recorded more than ten albums with his gravely voice and unique music. As explained on his website, “His songs tend to be about girls, socio-political issues, people on the edges, breakups, brotherhood, hate, love, fighters and hope. Sometimes all in the same song. He prefers to think of them as songs for humans.”
If I think of albums with great opening tracks, one of the first ones I think of is May Day, with its powerful rocking opener, “Guilty.” I love the guitars, the drums, the voice, and the lyrics.
‘Cause lately I’ve been dreaming of angels and cranes, In some kind of purgatory dodging the CIA, With a head full of soot, waving black flags, Throwing off the bodies just to cut down on the drag; Take ’em to the desert or take ’em to a dried up well; Tell ’em they’re in heaven and mutter, “welcome to hell;” I’ve been guilty of all these things.
Matthew Ryan has recorded several excellent albums, but has yet to become the big star that he should be. I prefer the rocking sound in some of his earlier work to the softer songs that predominate several of his albums. As a recent USA Today review noted in a positive review of his album Dear Lover, “Some rockers must scream when they plumb emotions at this depth. Ryan rarely has to raise his voice above a raspy whisper.”
But I like it when he raises his voice, as he does on the outstanding 2014 album Boxers. And for me, he may never surpass the opening song “Guilty” on his debut album, although he has come close. But that is not a bad thing, because very few artists have set such a high threshold with their first song.
Ryan also recorded an excellent acoustic version of the song in 2010.
What is your favorite opening track on an album? What is your favorite Matthew Ryan song? Leave a comment.
This post continues our discussion of the Lonesome Dove series, focusing on the series set after the original Lonesome Dove. Our post in Part One evaluated the original series and the prequels. In preparation for writing this series, I re-watched all of the series to be able to compare them.
Larry McMurtry’s Step-Child
(4) Return to Lonesome Dove (1993) is the one miniseries in the group that is not based on a book by Larry McMurtry. The television network wanted a follow-up to Lonesome Dove before too much time passed, and since Larry McMurtry was not done with a sequel, they hired another writer and kept McMurtry as a consultant. Like the other series, Return to Lonesome Dove features some very good big-name actors, including Jon Voight (Woodrow F. Call), Barbara Hershey (as one of the best Clara’s in the series), Louis Gossett, Jr., and Oliver Reed. In addition to again using Basil Poledouris’s great musical theme from Lonesome Dove, Return to Lonesome Dove also features some of the same actors from Lonesome Dove, including Rick Schroder as Newt Dobbs and Chris Cooper as July Johnson.
While Return to Lonesome Dove does not live up to the original, it is still an engaging series. The one weakness is that Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurtry did not write Return to Lonesome Dove, and it does deviate from some of his themes, etc. His books are interesting in that they try to escape from some of the Western myths. For example, in the other series, he does not follow the convention of having the main bad guy killed by one of the heroes, while Return to Lonesome Dove does feature such a resolution.
Still, this series does have some surprises, and it is enjoyable to see some of the same characters and actors continue where the tale left off in Lonesome Dove. And it features standout characters from actors Oliver Reed and William Peterson, as well as Jon Voight’s excellent performance adding some new vulnerability to Captain Call. Even if McMurtry abandons his Newt character after Lonesome Dove, we still want to see more of his growth into manhood. If you expect another Lonesome Dove, you will be disappointed, but if you go into it with an open mind, you might enjoy it very much. Rating: 8
(5) Streets of Laredo (1995) brought Larry McMurtry back into the franchise and for the most part still fits in the Return to Lonesome Dove universe because it picks up about two decades later in the 1890s, following Woodrow Call (this time played by James Garner) on one last adventure hunting a deadly killer. The film features a new set of fine actors, including Sissy Spacek as Lorena Parker. It is a little difficult at first to imagine Sam Shepard as Pea Eye Parker but he is an excellent actor and does a great job.
Besides Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo is the only other book in the series that I have read, and from my recollection, it seems to follow the book well. To some extent, the book negates Return to Lonesome Dove by noting that Woodrow left the Montana ranch the Spring after they arrived and Newt was killed by a horse the following summer, with the ranch failing after just two years. But Streets of Laredo takes place far enough in the future from Return to Lonesome Dove that it minimizes any inconsistencies.
Streets of Laredo revisits some of the themes from Lonesome Dove, especially on the role of family, how far we will go for our family, the search to find a family, and how one may still love a troubled family member. Streets of Laredo does not have the excitement or humor of some of the other series, but it is a good story and an honorable final portrayal of the character of Woodrow F. Call. Rating: 6
In the next installment of Chimesfreedom‘s posts on Rating the Lonesome Dove Series, we consider the weekly television show. The previous installment, Part One, rated the original and the prequels. Check out all four posts on Rating the Lonesome Dove Series.
Which is your favorite Lonesome Dove sequel? Leave a comment.
Below are some more online time killers and games you may play for free on your computer, including a new online game that is already a famous iPhone game. Keep an eye on the clock so you do not waste you entire day!
(1) At this website, answer vocabulary questions to earn free rice for the World Food Programme. You are feeding hungry people while you play, so it is not really a time killer. What are you doing at work that is more important than feeding the hungry anyway? Plus, you might learn something.
(2) Finally, Angry Birds, the popular iPhone game, is now available online so you may look like you are working on your computer while you play. It just became available this week and only works with the Google Chrome browser for now, but both the game and the browser are free downloads available at the Google Chrome website. Read more about the launch of the online game at Salon.
One of the highlights from the most recent Saturday Night Live was the “Jack Sparrow” video by Michael Bolton and Lonely Island, the group featuring Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone. The group has had a number of hilarious songs, and they are releasing their album, Turtleneck & Chain, this week. Lonely Island’s work also includes “I Just Had Sex” (feat. Akon) and the classic “Lazy Sunday.”
The new video, “Jack Sparrow,” features Michael Bolton, who does an outstanding job. Whether you are a fan of humor or of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, just watch it yourself.
The original Lonesome Dove is one of the finest miniseries and westerns. Lonesome Dove, based on the novel by Larry McMurtry, originally ran on television in 1989. It followed the adventures of Augustus “Gus” McRae, played by Robert Duvall, and Woodrow F. Call, played by Tommy Lee Jones, and also featured Diane Lane, Danny Glover, Anjelica Huston, and Chris Cooper.
Lonesome Dove’s success spawned several sequels and prequels. Maybe you have not seen any of them and are wondering where to start, or maybe you have seen Lonesome Dove and wondered whether the others are worth your time. Well, Chimesfreedom is grading each series on a scale of 1-10, addressing each one in chronological order by the time period covered. In this post, we rate the prequels as well as the original Lonesome Dove. Future posts will address other series in the franchise.
Dead Man’s Walk (1996)
Set in the early 1840’s, Dead Man’s Walk follows the adventures of a young Gus and Woodrow, including a deadly forced walk across a desert after they are captured by the Mexican Army. Generally, the acting is good, featuring standout performances by Keith Carradine and Edward James Olmos. Johnny Lee Miller also does a very good job as the young Woodrow Call, while David Arquette’s portrayal of Gus leaves one wondering how the goofy young man survived to be the competent westerner portrayed in Lonesome Dove by Robert Duvall.
Overall, the characters are engaging and the story and suspense are very good in Dead Man’s Walk, with the small exception of an odd sequence of events at the end to help Gus and Woodrow get home, leaving one thinking, “WTF?” Rating: 7
Comanche Moon (2008)
Comanche Moon follows a little older Woodrow and Gus in the 1850s-1860s. Of all of the series, this one has the fewest big name actors, with Val Kilmer as the sole major movie star in an odd over-the-top character performance.
You will recognize other actors from TV, such as Linda Cardellini (from Freaks & Geeks and ER) as Clara. Steve Zahn, who often plays the comic sidekick in movies like That Thing You Do!, plays Gus McRae. His performance largely mimics Robert Duvall’s acting in Lonesome Dove, and it grew on me. You may enjoy the Robert Duvall impersonation or be annoyed by it.
You may recognize other faces too. Karl Urban, the Dr. McCoy in the new Star Trek franchise, plays Woodrow Call. Additionally, Wes Studi (Dances with Wolves, Last of the Mohicans) stars as Buffalo Hump, the father of Blue Duck, who features more prominently in the original Lonesome Dove.
Comanche Moon probably received the worst reviews of all of the Lonesome Dove series. And it has the weakest stand-alone story and acting of the series.
But unlike Dead Man’s Walk, which just told an adventure story using two of the main characters from Lonesome Dove, Comanche Moon provides a back story of the characters to set up Lonesome Dove, like the way the Star Wars prequels did. If you really love Lonesome Dove, you might want to see more of the background of the familiar characters, how Newt was born, how the town of Lonesome Dove got started, how Gus lost Clara, etc. But some things may be better left to the imagination. Rating: 5
Lonesome Dove (1989): The Classic
Lonesome Dove is the cream of the crop of all of the Lonesome Dove series. The series follows an aging Gus and Woodrow in the 1870s out for one last big adventure, while also conveying a meditation on friendship, aging, family, mortality, and the end of the West. By far, of all the series, this one has the best story, the best acting, the best music, etc.
Lonesome Dove is not only the best of this series, it ranks with the greatest Western films of all-time. Time Out London recently ranked it among the Top 50 Westerns, although I’d rank it even higher than they did. Robert Duvall recently said in Esquire (Jan. 2011): “When I finished Lonesome Dove, I said to myself, Now I can retire. I’ve done something. Let the English play Hamlet. I’ll play Augustus McCrae.” Amen. The book won the Pulitzer Prize and the series won seven Emmys. Rating: 10
Another Prequel?
In 2014, the movie Lonesome Dove Church, directed by Terry Miles and starring Tom Berenger, was released. Is there any connection between the film and the Lonesome Dove series? Promotional material for the movie, including an interview with Berenger, make no reference to the series. But Barnes & Noble claims that the movie is a prequel to the series started by Larry McMurtry.
Lonesome Dove Church is advertised as the true story of the founding of the Lonesome Dove Church in Grapevine, Texas. Berenger plays a preacher in the old West who works to save his outlaw son and eventually build a church.
Because the church is named after the preacher sees a dove and because it is located in a town called Grapevine, it is likely that the church in the series has nothing to do with the fictional town created by Larry McMurtry. Yet, McMurtry has noted that he came up with the name “Lonesome Dove” while eating at a steakhouse and seeing a church bus for Lonesome Dove Baptist Church from Southlake, Texas. Thus, while Lonesome Dove Church is a decent but not great Western, we are not going to discuss it further in the context of the Lonesome Dove universe.
In Part 2 of this series, Chimesfreedom will consider the Lonesome Dove miniseries that take place after Lonesome Dove, including how the network struggled to keep one main character alive while author Larry McMurtry summarily killed the character with merely a sentence. Check out all four posts on Rating the Lonesome Dove Series.
The first day of May reminds me of one of my favorite albums, Matthew Ryan’s May Day
, this week. Lonely Island’s work also includes 