Video for National Donut Day: The Beastie Boys' "Sabotage"
National Donut Day was this past Friday, but Rock Turtleneck would be remiss if we let it pass without commentary. After racking my brain for several minutes, I could not think of a single song that mentioned donuts in their title.
But then as I happened to be watching my favorite video of all time, "Sabotage" by the late great Beastie Boys, there it was about 1:40 in, right at the time of MCA's fuzz-bass break: a fresh, delicious glazed donut.
It's no surprise that the "Sabotage" video contains a donut cameo. After all, it's a razor sharp satire of 70s cop shows directed by the brilliant Spike Jonze, and no one is in on the in-jokes like the Beasties.
Adam Yauch as MCA as Nathan Wind as Cochese
Watching the video, it's clear that, like me, Jonze and the Beasties were raised on a steady diet of The Streets of San Francisco (a Quinn Martin production), The Rookies and Starsky and Hutch. They know intuitively the tension between being a cop who plays by their own rules in order to get a perp, yet while also living on the edge of corruption themselves. It's a fine line to walk, and it's always helpful to have a few donuts around to take the edge off.
We may never know whether the story below is true or not, but in my mind it is because it makes my birthday the real donut day.
tcb, G
"Many historians credit the invention of the modern doughnut to a sailor, a Dutchman named Hanson Gregory. His mother, Elizabeth, was known to make a good olykoek, or "oily cake." She made some for him to take on one of his voyages, and she also sent along a recipe, so his cook could make some more. These cakes didn't have holes in them, however. One story says that the sea captain invented the donut by impaling one of the cakes on the ship's steering wheel, to keep his hands free in a sudden storm, on June 22, 1847. The spoke drove a hole through the wheel, naturally. Gregory discovered that he liked the cake better with a hole in the middle and ordered his cook to make them that way for the rest of the voyage."
We may never know whether the story below is true or not, but in my mind it is because it makes my birthday the real donut day.
ReplyDeletetcb,
G
"Many historians credit the invention of the modern doughnut to a sailor, a Dutchman named Hanson Gregory. His mother, Elizabeth, was known to make a good olykoek, or "oily cake." She made some for him to take on one of his voyages, and she also sent along a recipe, so his cook could make some more. These cakes didn't have holes in them, however. One story says that the sea captain invented the donut by impaling one of the cakes on the ship's steering wheel, to keep his hands free in a sudden storm, on June 22, 1847. The spoke drove a hole through the wheel, naturally. Gregory discovered that he liked the cake better with a hole in the middle and ordered his cook to make them that way for the rest of the voyage."
Wow, I stand corrected. I have egg on my face, or maybe it is just donut glaze. -RT
ReplyDeleteThere is a line about donuts in The Band's "Up on Cripple Creek".
ReplyDelete