EL SEGUNDO HERALD June 24, 2021 Page 3
Eagles Earn their
End of Season Awards
By Gregg McMullin
With high school sports in the books for
the 2020-21 season, the basketball, baseball,
and softball programs wrapped their season by
passing out team awards and all-league honors.
During a typical non-Covid season, teams
would gather for an end-of-season banquet held
at the school cafeteria or some other suitable
venue. Many times the potluck included an
array of desserts, and other times it could’ve
been main dishes. The evening was filled with
stories of teams and how they did during the
season. The coaches introduced players and
then would say something about each player.
He or she would then hand out varsity letters
to new players or hash marks for returnees.
At the end of the introductions, coaches
would announce who earned and awarded
all-league selections and then team individual
awards. Towards the end of the evening, the
spokesman or captains of the teams would
present the coach’s gifts in appreciation for
what the coaches do for them. This was also
the time for the coaches to get roasted by
their players in many cases, but it was all
in fun. In a conventional year, that’s what
would’ve happened. But this hasn’t been
your typical sports year for any of the athletes;
thus, end-of-season banquets weren’t
allowed. The teams did manage to handle
their awards in private and in safe Covid
protocol scenarios.
Eagles Had Historic
Basketball Season
The Eagles had a season to remember. They
had a 14 game winning streak, the longest in
the program’s history in 54 years. They won
Milestone
The Jewelry Source
337 Main St. El Segundo. 310-322-7110
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©2007
Mark her graduation with the gift that
sparkles almost as much as her achievements.
Entertainment
‘The Sparks Brothers’ is a Music Documentary
About the Best Band You’ve Never Heard
By Ryan Rojas for cinemacy.com
Spanning every bit of two hours and twenty
minutes, it’s clear that director Edgar Wright
feels indebted to both educate, as well as attempt
to make audiences appreciate the art-pop duo
Sparks–the most influential band that you’ve
never heard of–in the highly entertaining music
documentary, The Sparks Brothers.
An unabashed pop music fan himself, Edgar
Wright (Baby Driver) makes it his mission to
not only tell the story of the Mael brothers–Ron
and Russell, whose band “Sparks” not only
spans over five decades in which the pair made
25 studio albums and 500 songs–but capture
their undefinable creative identity, and show
how real commercial success would evade them
over their entire career while they refused to
compromise their vision.
But Wright the established filmmaker is
up for the job, telling Sparks’ story with an
inspired assortment of zany and diverse animation
styles whose tongue in cheek humor mix
with the band’s own ironical detachments. By
intercutting these animations with an array of
interviews from the music and entertainment
world–including Beck, Mike Meyers, Jason
Schwartzman and Flea (as well as Wright himself),
who all profess their love for Sparks–it’s
a wealth of riches to tell Sparks’ story.
To understand Sparks is to understand the
Mael brothers: born in Santa Monica, California
(already confusing, as most everyone thought
they were a British band), there’s Ron (the
“older” one) and Russell (the “cute” one),
who were raised on a diet of Hollywood and
cinema by their late father (who passed away
before the boys were teens). It was this level
of theatricality and cinema that would inspire
the band aesthetically, and would later influence
them philosophically through the appreciation
of French new wave film, in which the brothers’
self-awareness would rally them to churn
against the mainstream of pop music that they’d
would eventually operate in.
Of course, Ron and Russell themselves are
present in this doc, too. So too do they want
a part in constructing this (their) story, as their
authorship has always been integral to their
presentation. What I found interesting about
The Sparks Brothers is that, while the Mael
brothers were clearly all-too gleeful playing
pop-provocateurs throughout their career (Ron
famously sported a sort-of Hitler moustache,
which he would say curiously never got mistaken
for Chaplin), it’s clear that they were
in some small part motivated by a desire to
break into the mainstream, to be more famous
than they were, or to a more simple degree,
“be understood.”
One of the most surprising and telling
reveals is when, after the album of their first
band, “Halfnelson,” didn’t sell well, it was
their manager at the time who advised them
to change their name to what would become
Sparks (as they were told they looked like
the Marx Brothers). While Sparks would (and
should) be the last band in the world to be accused
of having motivations to work to fulfill
audiences reactions (which they never did, to
be clear), it is telling that a constant need to
work against rejection fueled them to achieve
pinnacles of creative accomplishments that, who
knows, might not have happened otherwise.
Sparks’ prolific output would be for our collective
cultural benefit, as Ron (the songwriter)
and Russell (the voice) would create some of
the most genre-defining music of the ‘60s,
‘70s and ‘80s, which would go on to predate
electronic synth music like New Order and
Pet Shop Boys. So even if you’re not aware
of Sparks’ music (which you likely aren’t), or
don’t entirely “get” their music (which mass
audiences clearly didn’t–hence this doc), The
Sparks Brothers is a fantastically abounding
story about creative artists who were unafraid
to chart forward, to re-define themselves, to
change up the formula and evolve to new
places, which is a rare but necessary thing
for artists to do today. Sparks wanted to stay
true to their selves and never compromise on
their unique vision. So they chose to be the
best band that you’ve never heard of–until now.
135 minutes. ‘The Sparks Brothers’ is now
playing in theaters. •
Film Review
The Sparks Brothers, courtesy Focus Features
Ryan Rojas
Burkley Brandlin
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CJ Hardy was the Pioneer League’s MVP
Preston Engel (r) made the All-Pioneer League First team
See Eagles, page 10