If Simpsons Can Fly…

Hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday and the last one for January 2021. On the birthday front, Chris Ladesma turned another year older on Thursday. In the past I had written about his blog and provided a link to a post, which I had fallen in love with in 2014. This year, I will leave it up to you, to go into the archives to January 2020 and look for yourself, if you wish to find out more about Chris and his job as Simpsons Music Editor.
This week I want to focus on the two albums which came out in the late 90s. They were essentially soundtrack albums, with music from the show and specifically, from seasons 2 to 9. Songs In The Key Of Springfield and Go Simpsonic With The Simpsons are out of print right now and in my opinion, should be released digitally, on all streaming and Digital platforms so everyone can buy and listen to the songs again, as they had appeared on both albums.

I’ve talked a bit about some of the songs and the differences in mixes, between the episode and the respective albums they had appeared on. For example: The Addams Family version of the theme has a different mix, from Treehouse of Horror IV, among many others here. Unlike most albums with songs taken from TV shows, I like these two because of the nature of The Simpsons. We know that it’s animated, we know The voices of the main actors and guest stars (Along with the music) and, they are songs we have heard within episodes mixed at times with dialogue. For example: when Bart and Milhouse go to Kwik-E-Mart and get the super squishee, made of syrup. You know? When Bart and Milhouse go on a squishee bender with $20 in their pocket? There are more examples like this and even tracks with just dialogue, which I think is really cool and I mean that.

If you haven’t heard the two albums, despite them being out of print and not available to stream, you are in luck because you can find them on YouTube as playlists. I have saved two to my library, of one album each. Here they are and unfortunately, the track listings are badly misspelled. So, Wikipedia and other internet sources are a much better place to get the proper names for most of the tracks, because in some cases there are multiple songs within a track. Here they are and I will tell you what I was told, when I had asked about the two albums eventually coming out, on all Digital and streaming platforms. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJLNOwjYkQIpK8A7FnLlWDEMxftEmyLqq and https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJLNOwjYkQIpdkiYbbqGT16j9U0atc4l3

A few years ago, I had asked Chris Ladesma on Twitter about the possibility of the two albums becoming available digitally and I don’t think he had an answer for me. If a band like Tool can relent and finally allow their discography to be released to iTunes, Apple Music, Youtube and Spotify, why aren’t these two albums available for purchase and streaming as yet? I’m not so sure but, they may be available on Apple music, according to the Music recognition on my iPhone, through Shazam. I’m not so sure and even if it is true, I don’t want Apple Music because of problems I’ve had in the past with it. Sure, I can get when I want with what Apple has available but, it has caused other problems with iTunes in the past and I hope that the two albums can be finally available for everybody, like the other three albums are in The Simpsons discography. Hopefully the pandemic will inspire somebody to have a change of heart and finally do the right thing, making these two classic Simpsons albums available for everyone to purchase and stream, maybe even to those who wish to purchase them on vinyl and again… on CD. I call them classic because of the music on it and not because they were huge albums throughout the world!

Curious about Season 31

hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday poast. Unfortunately, we have a death in Simpsons land, as guest star Valerie Harper passed away yesterday at the age of 80, of brain cancer. She was of course, Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and had a show of her own (Rhoda) which also had a young lady named Julie Kavner in the cast, as the younger sister Brenda. Of course, Julie went on to voice Marge and other female Bouvier family members and… Gloria on The Simpsons and Valerie Harper went on to be a guest star in a number of episodes in more recent years. https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/Valerie_Harper

At some point I just might go through the cast members of The Mary Tyler Moore show who had guest starred on The Simpsons. Obviously, I’ve talked about James L. Brooks’s involvement as producer and the theme song, which I will never forget hearing as a boy, with my parents watching it back in the 70s and possibly during the 80s, in reruns. I know I had a chance to listen to some reran episodes around 1987 and 1988, after Late Night With David Letterman, for as long as an hour sometimes. Of course, the closing theme stands out, with the plaintive meow of the cat at the end. RIP Valerie Harper and thank you for giving us Rhoda Morgenstern and giving Julie Kavner an opportunity, to do her best work in TV, outside The Simpsons.

This week it is back to school for the kids and the weather will start to cool off and it will be winter, in a number of months. I am not looking forward to it but, I am looking forward to Season 31. What will happen with the characters voiced by Russi Taylor, before she passed away from colon cancer, on July 26? Will they recast the characters with new actresses or, use other actresses who are a part of the supporting cast to do the voices? Or, will the characters be retired?

When and will Apu make a return to gouging customers at the Kwik-E-Mart?

What adventures will the Simpson family go on, within and outside Springfield? Will Ned Flanders have more of an assertive roll as Bart’s teacher, now that he is as well as being the Simpsons good neighbour?

What prank call will Bart make to Moe… if any this year? There are so many gems from past calls and probably more, that I and other fans probably hadn’t thought of.

Will Sideshow Bob appear in this season? Also, will he try to murder Bart or, be his friend?

On the same note, what kind of mischief will Bart cause this year, with his family and other people with in Springfield?

Will Treehouse of Horror XXX be as exemplary and funny and disturbing, as it has been in the past 29 years? Also, what horror movies will they parody this year, in each of the 3 shorts?

Will Maggie say more than a word, during an episode, in her own voice? In the past, other people have had Maggie speaking in mature female and even, a male voice, including cast member Harry Sheerer.

Finally, what about Grandpa Simpson and will he mellow out, a bit towards his son?

Those are some questions I had just put out there, just as questions and nothing more than that. I am certainly looking forward to September 29th, when Season 31 will begin. Also, I’m curious if there will be a similar episode to Simprovised, where fans who were on Twitter, had the chance to get involved and ask a character a question at the end of the episode. In this case it was Homer and there are 3 versions of the episode available on iTunes and throughout the world. They could do something similar, with Marge as the adult character who could be questioned by fans on all forms of social media. With an American election coming up next year and with Donald Trump as president, why not ask the woman of the house some questions? If you know Marge, you know she leans liberally, like Lisa. Altho she isn’t as passionate about the world and the people in it like her precocious daughter.

Homer And Apu: 25 Years Later

Hello and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday. I guess the big news for this week is that The Simpsons has been renewed for Season’s 31 and 32. I’m not surprised and I’m looking forward to what new episodes will bring, before the next American election. Well actually, it will be Season 32, when they go to elect a new president or reelect Donald Trump but either way, I’m delighted.

This week I will talk about the episode “Homer And Apu”, as it is the 25th anniversary of the episode tonight. It will be a repost from the other blog and well… why not? A have added some other details to it, which I wish I had done back in February 2014 but, I had just got a new iPhone at the time and didn’t know that everything I had would be intact. There is also a birthday to be celebrated in the Simpsons in the next 5 days as well.

As the episode begins, we see Apu charging customers ridiculous prices on things such as: gas, Twinkies and even penny candy which is “surprisingly expensive”. We also see Homer go to the Kwik-E-Mart and foolishly eat meet that has gone bad and get really sick. He does the same with 10 pounds of shrimp after Apu apologizes to him, the first time. Then, of course Apu is fired after he is caught planning to cell filthy hot dogs and he is forced to turn in his pricing gun and everything else he needs to do his job. This is also after Kent Brockman’s show Bight Back uses Homer as their man, with a camera in a hat. Of course, Apu notices the camera buzzing and thinks it is a bee, prompting Homer to smash the hat, with the still functioning camera, catching Apu in the act of planning to cel the filthy hot dogs. Apu is questioned by Kent and realizes he has been caught and is thus… fired.

He realizes that Homer is the one who got him fired and comes to try to make amends. The family eventually grow to love him and then they sing the classic song “Who Needs The Kwik-E-Mart?” before we see Apu on the roof sobbing that he misses working at his beloved job.Just after this seen we find that actor James Woods replaces Apu at the Kwick-E-Mart in this episode.

Apu and Homer go to India to try to get Apu’s job back, when they visit the Kwik-E-Mart Central Office, located on a mountain. They meet the Kwik-E-Mart President and they are allowed 3 questions. Unfortunately, it is a bust when Homer wastes Apu’s opportunity to get his job back, by asks all 3 questions… basically if he is really the Kwik-E-Mart president? They are told “thank you…. come again” and this enrages Apu. Suddenly Apu realizes that he must go down to his beloved Kwick-E-Mart and face the music. He sees James Woods and tells him about working 96 hours strait and thinking he was a humming bird. Then a robber breaks in an tries to shoot Mr. Woods but gets Apu in the chest in stead.

Apu is taken to the hospital and Dr. Hibburt removes the bullet from the still alive Apu. James Woods also lets him know that he has his job back. Apu is delighted and Homer and the Simpsons family all hug him, twice before the episode ends.

Of course, I love the episode and of course, it is also a classic. The one thing I am curious about is why Apu would think he was some kind of Hummingbird, after working 96 hours in a row? Fuzzy brain? I don’t know but either way, I love the episode for everything in it.

Okay, now that we have this out of the way, it is time to reveal the birthday boy for this week. It is none other than Matt Groening, who turns another year older on Friday. He started it all back in 1985 outside of James L. Brooks’s office. He also created the show Futurama in 1999, which has unfortunately not been as successful as The Simpsons. However, that Simpsons episode back in 2014 was a nice gesture to both Matt and the fans of both shows!