Happy Black History month! We got the Super Bowl, Bob Marley’s birthday, Prison Escapee’s “Life After Death,” Groundhog Day–the holiday and the film–plus Palm Springs, and the rising Warriors taking on the sputtering Mavericks. February here we come!
Happy February friends! Happy Black History month! We’ll be celebrating Black history all month long and all year! Of course, were it not for the artistic and cultural contributions of African Americans, there would be no MMH to celebrate.
Speaking of, on October 31, 1950, Earl Lloyd became the first African American to play in the NBA. The 21-year-old was drafted the year prior and made his historic debut in the season opener for the Washington Capitols. Harassed by fans, but embraced by his teammates, Lloyd tallied 6 PTS and 5 AST in limited minutes. After only seven games in the league, Lloyd was drafted into the army and spent two years in Korea. Not to hang up the robes of progress, in 1970 Lloyd became the first full-time Black NBA head coach!
Big week ahead! Tomorrow (Tuesday) is Groundhog Day, Saturday (2/6) is Bob Marley’s 76th birthday, and Sunday is the Super Bowl!
The Weeknd is performing the Super Bowl Halftime show. Okay… How do we feel about that? He isn’t one of the names that would come to my mind if I was booking, but I just learned he is the highest streaming artist on Spotify with 67 million monthly streams, so maybe they know what they’re doing.
Kinda hurts to realize that Bob would only be 76 and could still be with us. Imagine ACL with Willie Nelson, The Rolling Stones, and Bob fucking Marley… Losing music legends young or old just sucks.
Groundhog Day! A good day to well… watch the movie! Speaking of, see below.
Music /// Prison Escapee “Life After Death”
Erik David Hidde aka Prison Escapee released his new single “Life After Death” on Friday. The spacey, ambient track is giving me serious “Future Reflections” by MGMT energy. Replete with soaring “oooos” and a reverbed trumpet giving way to cautious synth pulses at about 1:50, “Life After Death” is low key enough to be the soundtrack for your workday while infusing enough drive that you could run to it.
While we’re all dealing with life after Trump, Erik is thinking decades down the line:
I don’t wanna die from a heart attack
I don’t wanna die like my grandfather did
I don’t wanna die in the hospital
I don’t wanna die with my sins unforgiven
I don’t wanna die from cancer
I don’t wanna get shot in the back
I don’t wanna get in my race car
And crash it
Bring me back from the dead now, baby
My heart beats lately
Everybody knows I’m crazy
I can’t measure what’s good or bad when I’m feeling sad
“So, this reaffirms that two-sided struggle that saturates his lyrical themes. There’s the internal battle between defying your own mortality and learning to feel again versus proclaiming that no matter what happens, it’s okay because there will always be life after death.” Beautifully put by The Audio Glow.
Prison Escapee is a friend of the site. We had a blast reviewing his 20/20 EP last year and are excited this new album is being released on the indie king, LA-based label Cleopatra Records. “Life After Death” is the second single from Prison Escapee’s forthcoming album Precious Moments, which comes out on April 2nd.
Movies /// Groundhog Day + Palm Springs
Dooo iiiittttttt. Fire it up tomorrow. I rewatched Groundhog Day this Summer and it’s just as strong as ever. And there’s a great music tie in with Phil learning piano! I love the big blues payoff gig on the final night of the loop:
Pretty wild, in the original ending of GHD, when Phil and Rita wake up on February 3rd, the narrative perspective was going to shift to Rita and we were going to find out she was stuck reliving 2/3. Damn! That’s kinda meta. Almost like a It-Follows-meets-time-loop sexually transmitted disease.
And then did everyone catch Palm Springs from last Summer? Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti with the Groundhog Day remix. This time they’re at a wedding in Palm Springs. Without giving too much away, it’s nice to have two people in the loop this time around to share the journey and commiserate along the way.
This movie is a lot of fun. I’m not gonna say I’m a Samberg disciple, but I’d absolutely sign up for a night out with him. Also with summer feeling like a distant dream this time of year, it’s nice to catch some rays for a couple hours.
You can watch Groundhog Day on Amazon Prime or rent it on YouTube for $3.99. You can stream Palm Springs on Hulu.
Hoops //// Warriors at Mavericks
Dub nation takes a visit to Big D on Thursday at 7:30PM ET. This is the early game on the Thursday TNT slate. And a nice opportunity for East Coasters to catch Atomic Curry and the Couriers. Speaking of, everyone realizes Seth’s older brother is averaging 27.7 PPG? The second-highest mark of his career—second only to the 30.1 PPG he averaged in his unanimous MVP season.
It definitely felt like there was a void last season that I couldn’t quite put my finger in. 20 games into the year, it’s clear Steph and KD were that void. Good to have the boys back.
Beyond Steph, the Warriors are this weird team I can’t take my eyes off! Andrew Wiggins is basically having the “but if he goes to a good team!” year that so many have prognosticated he might. A career 33% 3PT shooter, Wiggins is converting 40% of his deep balls this season while averaging a career-high 1.5 BLK.
Meanwhile, I’m addicted to Kelly Oubre boxscores… Last week he was 7/9 FG for 20 PTS, then 1/11 for 4 PTS, then 8/14 for 18 PTS. Every game is like watching a car chase. Either it’s explosive excitement or it’s a literal explosion in the form of a wreck.
Finally, everyone hip to Wiseman? Dude is BIG. His size jumps off the screen. And watching him is like watching a gazelle’s first steps. He’s literally learning how to play the game in real-time. Draymond’s new role as the Splinter to Wiseman’s TMNT is also a delight.
Meanwhile the Mavs… Oh, Dallas. They’ve now lost 5 in a row and slipped to 13th in the West at 8-12. Luka is doing his part, averaging 29-7-9 during the losing streak, but everyone else has been up and down. Dallas is now 18th in offense and 22nd in defense per Cleaning the Glass. Ruh-roh.
Will the Warriors keep climbing? Can the Mavs right the ship? We’ll find out on Thursday and thankfully we’ll be in the safe, loving arms of the TNT crew. God bless Inside the NBA.
