Filipino American History Month Painting of the Day: "Thriller" by Allison Torneros

This is the final "Filipino American History Month Painting of the Day" post.

"Rock Box" Track of the Day: The Jackson 5, "Never Can Say Goodbye"

Song: "Never Can Say Goodbye" by The Jackson 5
Released: 1971
Why's it part of the "Rock Box" playlist?: It was featured in 1994's Crooklyn, one of my favorite Spike Lee Joints. In an A.V. Club "Random Roles" piece that was posted last week, Crooklyn star Delroy Lindo said his film, which flopped at the box office, found its fans on video:

One of the things that's been interesting about the legacy of the film is that I can't tell you how often I'm walking down the street and somebody will come up to me and say something like, "My daughter loves that film," "My daughter knows every scene in that film," "My daughter went through a period where she would come home from school and put in the VHS of Crooklyn." I mean, I hear that a lot, or people saying, "Oh my God, that was my family." And not just African-Americans. I've had white people say "You know what, I'm from Brooklyn, that was my film; that's so evocative for me of my family, of my past."

Which moment in Crooklyn does "Never Can Say Goodbye" appear?: The sequence where Troy (Zelda Harris) heads back to Brooklyn and says goodbye to both her Virginia-based cousin and compressed anamorphic widescreen (to the relief of viewers who were annoyed by the way Spike intentionally distorted the film's images to convey Troy's discomfort in Virginia).

Crooklyn is where I first heard "Never Can Say Goodbye," which was written by actor/minister Clifton Davis of That's My Mama and Amen fame. Thank you, Spike, for introducing me to so many fantastic pieces of music like the original version of "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "Chaiyya Chaiyya."

You know those Kidz Bop cover versions of pop hits? I'm looking forward to hearing the Kidz Bop crew take a stab at Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You."

Kidz Bop covers of songs like "Since U Been Gone" make no sense because they have kids sing about relationship baggage they haven't experienced yet. You don't have to be Lorne from Angel to be able to detect that in their soulless delivery. I can't take seriously a tune about relationship woes if it's sung by someone who still eats paste.

"Never Can Say Goodbye" should have been just as nonsensical because little Michael Jackson was also singing about adult heartache, but his voice in that tune is the opposite of soulless (it's also devoid of the showboating that a whole future generation of American Idol contestants is so fond of). I have no idea which moment from his effed-up childhood Jackson was recalling in order to embody the angsty character in "Never Can Say Goodbye"--Alex, I'm gonna go with "What is heartache over a rat he lost?"--but whatever it was, it fueled one hell of a performance during "Never Can Say Goodbye." That's what separates young Michael Jackson from whatever Village of the Damned they pluck those Kidz Bop studio singers from.

"The Best of Jimmy J. Aquino on Twitter," Part 5

The sampling of tweets from my Twitter page concludes.

Previously on A Fistful of Soundtracks: The Blog: Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.

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MSNBC's Michael Jackson coverage is this close to turning into SNL's "Buckwheat Is Dead" sketch.
3:33 PM Jun 25th from web

Favorite MJ-related childhood memory: My brother and sister getting mad at our dad for not taping one of MJ's '84 AMA acceptance speeches.
4:39 PM Jun 25th from web

Tweet #500: Least favorite MJ-related childhood memory: MJ tearing his shirt off during "Dirty Diana." "Your body starts to shiver," indeed.
4:58 PM Jun 25th from web

Though I understand why Charlie's Angels fans like @cinebeats love and miss the late Farrah, parts of Farrah's show haven't aged well...
6:20 PM Jun 27th from web

... especially the scenes w/ Charlie the double entendre-crazy recluse boss in the Montalban toupee, easily the lamest part of the show.
6:21 PM Jun 27th from web

Charlie is a lazy douche. We never see him go out and do much legwork. He's the laziest, cowardliest head of a P.I. agency in TV history.
6:22 PM Jun 27th from web

Apparently, Charlie is an agoraphobe who's too busy getting laid to do any work, so he sends out his assistants to get their asses shot at.
6:23 PM Jun 27th from web

Why do we never see Charlie's face? The facelessness makes him look evil, like he's Dr. Claw or Cobra Commander or something.
6:24 PM Jun 27th from web

Maybe Charlie looks like a white Shabba Ranks (http://bit.ly/yL81N), and the cameraman's too frightened to show Charlie's face.
6:25 PM Jun 27th from web

To borrow @scrubbles' words, the Charlie's Angels theme music by Jack Elliott and Allyn Ferguson is the ultimate in blow-dried fabulousness.
6:27 PM Jun 27th from web

The best rendition of the Charlie's Angels theme was the pilot version: http://bit.ly/3PQ20V. Damn, Jaclyn Smith was the hottest Angel.
6:28 PM Jun 27th from web

The chick who played Jaclyn Smith in the Behind the Camera: Charlie's Angels TV-movie was the hottest one there too (http://bit.ly/F0aWw).
6:29 PM Jun 27th from web

@cinebeats The thing I hated the most about the Charlie's Angels movies was the lack of guns.
6:35 PM Jun 27th from web

@cinebeats It just isn't the same without the heroines pointing their guns and yelling "Freeze!"
6:36 PM Jun 27th from web

Bosley, you may be a dork, but I'd like to thank you for making the air conditioning at Charles Townsend Investigations stay cold for 5 yrs.
3:16 PM Jun 28th from web

WGN has been showing the Charlie's Angels ep in which Farrah's stunt double flees on a skateboard from a bad guy.
6:05 PM Jun 28th from web

"The role of Jill Munroe is now being played by Lupe Fiasco in a blond wig."
6:05 PM Jun 28th from web