Tag: People

Creed, Amy Grant

ZACH: But no way are we playing Creed, man … Or Amy Grant. That’s where we draw the line.

Creed, rock band from Tallahassee, Florida with several songs addressing themes in Christian theology and spirituality. Prominent in the post-grunge movement of the mid-1990s, the band released three consecutive multi-platinum albums, with their album Human Clay being certified diamond. Creed has sold over 28 million records but has been panned by some critics; Rolling Stone magazine ranked the band the worst artist of the 1990s.

Amy Grant (born 1960), [pictured] pop singer-songwriter, and musician. She began in contemporary Christian music before crossing over to pop music in the 1980s and 1990s. She has been referred to as “The Queen of Christian Pop”. She had sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, won six Grammy Awards, 22 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, and had the first Christian album to go platinum. She was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 and in 2022, she was announced as a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.

Dr Phil

LUKE: Being jealous of Dean is pointless. You’re just gonna drive Rory away. You wanna have a relationship with someone, you’re gonna have to learn to open up your mouth and say something.
JESS: Give it a rest, Dr. Phil.

Dr Phil, previously discussed.

Having a girlfriend for a few weeks has certainly given Luke a lot of authority on relationship matters. This scene between Luke and Jess reads like Luke urgently giving Jess the sort of relationship advice he himself has badly needed during the show.

Dean Martin, New York Mining Disaster

LORELAI: Then we picked the same Dean Martin song on the jukebox twenty-five times and people started complaining, so we picked the Bee Gees’ “New York Mining Disaster” and they begged for Dean Martin back.

Dean Martin, previously discussed. It would be interesting to speculate which Dean Martin song they kept playing – my guess would be his signature song “That’s Amore”, which begins, When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie. It makes sense that a pizza place would have that song on the jukebox. Unfortunately, it looks as if John’s of Bleeker Street doesn’t actually have a jukebox. Possibly the jukebox was somewhere else.

“New York Mining Disaster 1941”, the 1967 international debut single by the Bee Gees, written by Barry and Robin Gibb, and their first song to hit the charts in both the UK and US. It received a lot of attention, because rumours had been circulated that the Bee Gees were actually The Beatles, playing under assumed names. It went to #12 in the UK and #14 in the US, and was most popular in the Netherlands and New Zealand, at #3.

Barry and Robin wrote the song sitting in darkness during a power cut. The song recounts the story of a miner trapped in a cave-in. According to the Gibb brothers, the song was inspired by the 1966 Aberfan disaster in Wales. According to Robin, there actually had also been a mining disaster in New York in 1939, but not in 1941, and he thought “New York” sounded more “glamorous”.

Spice Girls, Jonas Salk

LORELAI: No, see, Alex and I talked about everything we plan to do and how he expected to dress and how I expected to dress, and we coordinated to the point where I knew each piece of clothing I had to bring, down to the Spice Girls necklace I plan to wear Saturday morning for breakfast because we agreed to keep it a little whimsical.
RORY: So, not your Jonas Salk necklace?

Spice Girls, previously discussed. [Necklace pictured].

Jonas Salk (1914-1995), virologist and medical researcher who developed one of the first polio vaccines.

Ben and J. Lo

LORELAI: I found everything – including a couple coupling.
LUKE: Oh, Rory and Jess?
LORELAI: No, Ben and J. Lo. Yes, Rory and Jess.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, who were in a romantic relationship from 2002 to 2004. This attracted intense scrutiny by the press, and although they became engaged in November 2002, they called it off in January 2004, citing “excessive media attention”. Despite this, and both subsequently marrying other people, they continued to speak of each other fondly, and expressed regret over their split.

In a twist only Lorelai could have seen coming, Affleck and Lopez resumed their relationship in 2021, and were married in 2022. They still get a fair bit of media attention, but have probably learned how to deal with it better by now.

Bette Davis

MISS PATTY: Okay, here we go. Hey, did you know that I once met the great Bette Davis?

Ruth Elizabeth “Bette” Davis (1908-1989), Hollywood actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her performances in a range of film genres, although her greater successes were in romantic dramas. She won two Academy Awards.

Elaine Stritch on Broadway

MISS PATTY: It’s part stories, part songs. Kind of like what Elaine Stritch did on Broadway, but without the bitterness. My working title – Buckle Up, I’m Patty.

Elaine Stritch (1925-2014), actress, known for her work on Broadway and later, television. She made her professional stage debut in 1944 and appeared in numerous stage plays, musicals, feature films and television series. Stritch was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1995.

Patty refers to her autobiographical one-woman show, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, composed of anecdotes from Stritch’s life, as well as showtunes and Broadway standards that mirror Stritch’s rise and fall both on and off the stage. It ran on Broadway from November 2001 to May 2002, after which Stritch continued to perform it at regional and international venues.

The Broadway production was recognised with the 2002 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event and the 2002 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical. A recording of the show was released in 2002, and a TV documentary of the show was later broadcast, in 2004.

Andy Warhol

JESS: Find someone who vaguely resembles me. Take him. Just don’t kiss him goodnight.
RORY: That’s not going to work.
JESS: Andy Warhol did it all the time.

Andy Warhol, born Andrew Warhola Jr (1928-1987), artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the art movement known as Pop Art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture that flourished by the 1960s, and span a variety of media.

I’m not completely sure what Jess is referring to here, except that Andy Warhol did have something of a “type” when it came to his lovers and muses, both male and female. If anyone has any more specific ideas, please write in!

Memorial to Casimir Pulaski

In the background in the town square is a memorial to Casimir Pulaski (1745-1779), Polish nobleman, soldier, and military commander who has been called the “father of the American cavalry.”

Driven into exile after a failed uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, he came to North America to help in the American Revolutionary War, following a recommendation by Benjamin Franklin. He distinguished himself throughout the revolution, most notably when he saved the life of George Washington.

Pulaski became a general in the Continental Army, and he created the Pulaski Cavalry Legion, reforming the American cavalry as a whole. He was killed at the Battle of Savannah, and is remembered as a hero who fought for independence and freedom in Poland and the US.

Numerous places and events are named in his honour, and he is one of only eight people to be awarded honorary United States citizenship. There is a very fine statue in his honour in Hartford, and the memorial in Stars Hollow may be an attempt to provide a fictional counterpart.