{"id":753,"date":"2007-08-15T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-15T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2007-08-15T10:13:08","modified_gmt":"2007-08-15T10:13:08","slug":"rock-crimes-paul-schaffer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/rock-crimes-paul-schaffer\/","title":{"rendered":"Rock Crimes: Paul Shaffer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gEanHqTHIyA?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nDespite any feelings you might have about the artist in the above video and the quality of his performance, which I&#8217;ll acknowledge is only mediocre, check out what happens as the YouTube clock hits <strong>1:40 and counting down<\/strong>. You might have a similar reaction as the woman in the following, very short clip:<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qiYLy0tya6Q?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Paul_Shaffer\" title=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Paul_Shaffer\">Paul Shaffer<\/a><\/strong> can have that effect on people. <\/p>\n<p>ProTools is soon to launch a &#8220;sound dehancer&#8221; plug-in called <strong>InstaSuck<\/strong>. Using InstaSuck, <em>Late Night With David Letterman<\/em> band leader Shaffer can be dialed up for any band&#8217;s performance, and even the most stirring performance will be brought down a few notches. Since moving his Look from lovable wiseacre who was born to play <em>Artie Fufkin<\/em> to <strong>Liberace in sausage casing<\/strong>, Shaffer&#8217;s campy gesticulations and overbitten keyboard runs have risen to the level of <strong>Rock Crimes<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nShaffer wasn&#8217;t always the kiss of death. Long ago, when he was bandleader and occasional skit actor on <em>Saturday Night Live<\/em>, Schaffer fell into that <em>&#8220;Wouldn&#8217;t it be great if there was more time given to this person?&#8221;<\/em> category that we&#8217;ve felt for the likes of <strong>Pete Townshend<\/strong>, when his lead vocal performances were a rare treat; <strong>Kyra Sedgwick<\/strong>, before being subjected to her bad Holly Hunter impersonation in <em>The Closer<\/em>. Like these artists, however, once given the requested additional time, Shaffer fell into the dreaded <em>&#8220;Are you happy now?&#8221;<\/em> category. &#8220;Are you happy now?&#8221; for instance, we asked ourselves when Mick Jones finally took control of his own band, <strong>Big Audio Dynamite<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Slowly, we would begin to see more, and the initial results were not as hoped for, but we could tolerate <strong>More Shaffer<\/strong>. By the time the <strong>Sausage Casing Era<\/strong> hit, however, even a brief anecdote with a long set up that immediately fizzles out is <em>too much<\/em>.<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7CiUf4CtaSk?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Shaffer would come to relish his MC role, even leading a quartet of jazz organ greats on some Canadian music awards program. By this point, encased, of course, the line between his smarmy characters (eg, Bill Murray&#8217;s lounge singer accompanist, Artie Fufkin) and real life has blurred. By the time Shaffer actually kicks off the jam, with 4:25 left in the countdown, the packet of InstaSuck has been opened. It&#8217;s just a matter of when Paul will turn over the packet and begin stirring.<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IdJeCjIwGFk?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nAt <strong>2:17<\/strong>, Shaffer has emptied the contents of the packet and begun dry humping his organ.<\/p>\n<p>Following is a real atrocity from 1989, during which Shaffer is briefly seen (at <strong>1:18<\/strong>) as a confused bystander. Remember when the Late Night band had to play with all artists, often leaving just two key members of a band to play with all those guys in mullets, long coats, and jeans tucked into their floppy boots? I believe this era set the tone for Shaffer&#8217;s Rock Crimes.<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WN7JK6hoCvo?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>While the other musicians slowly stepped back into a more tasteful supporting role, content to function as little more than the house band, Shaffer continues to edge to the fore. We thought we wanted more Paul Shaffer. We were wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite any feelings you might have about the artist in the above video and the quality of his performance, which I&#8217;ll acknowledge is only mediocre, check out what happens as the YouTube clock hits 1:40 and counting down. You might have a similar reaction as the woman in the following, very short clip: Paul Shaffer <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/rock-crimes-paul-schaffer\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}