Well, there’s Firefly, which I didn’t even try until long after it ended, and shortly before the movie came out. Sigh
I remember being given a hardcover copy of ‘Long dark tea-time of the soul’ for christmas when I was young, (because I was a fan of the hitchhiker’s guide books,) and reading up through the first third or more but not really being impressed and giving it up. It’s now one of my favorite books.
Looking back, I’m pretty sure that if I’d caught any of the clues about the Norse mythology stuff, that would have hooked me, but they flew right over my little head at the time.
Ethel Merman. I just could not stand her at least through my 20s, but eventually I came to really appreciate her style.
Joan Sutherland. I didn’t hate her, but her singing simply didn’t interest me. I rediscovered her in my late 40s and completely agree with those who called her La Stupenda.
I know that hearing ability declines with age, first noticeable at the high frequencies. I wonder if the reason for my not fully appreciating these two giants was because the very high frequency overtones in their voices irritated me.
I loved Bill Cosby: Himself, although I get a little choked up every time I watch the routines about him and his kids because of what happened to Ennis.
On that note, I’d have to say pretty much every stand-up routine Richard Pryor ever did. I was a kid when I first started listening to Pryor, and I didn’t like his jokes very much. I thought that he wasn’t making any sense. About 20 years later, I listened to them again and realized that they didn’t make any sense to me, because Rich was a genius, and I didn’t know a fucking thing about life.
I really do mean a genius, too. In my mind, Richard Pryor is the single most intelligent comedian who ever lived. Plenty of comedians suffered drug addictions, women problems, and encounters with the mafia, but Rich could grab you by the shirt, pull you onstage and right into his soul so that you could actually see what it was like, or at least come closer to seeing and experiencing it than you would with any other performer. You found yourself listening to him talk about setting himself on fire and how the pipe would just call his name, and you would think “Yes, yes, that sounds perfectly right. If I were in his shoes, I’d mouth off to Jim Brown when he tried to take the crack pipe away just like that.”
I think that might be one of the reasons Richard Pryor never really made it in movies. He was just too goddamned smart, deep and scary. We look at most comedians and say “Yeah, he has a dark side.” Richard Pryor didn’t even have a light side. He was all dark, and with the possible exception of Stir Crazy, nobody could bring anything out of him on film.
I grew up in the 60s, and always thought The Beatles were “OK”. I didn’t dislike them, but I didn’t particularly like them. I thought Sgt Pepper was their worst album. I bought lots and lots of albums, but not one by The Beatles.
