Waiting For The Punchline Extreme

[Margit Szermer]

In1995, Extreme might not have been seen as the "hip" band thatscored a hit with "Hole Hearted"; their next effort, III Sides To Every Story was seen as a bit of a commercialdisappointment. Gary Cherone and crew had two choices: Go thecommercial route and aim for the next hit single, or continuemaking concept albums and hope for the best.

With new drummer Mike Mangini in tow, Extreme chose the secondroad and made what turned out to be their most challenging album oftheir career, Waiting For The Punchline. While this is not the easiestalbum to get through (especially if you're paying attention to thelyrics), there are moments on this album that demonstrate how goodthe band was.

I don't claim to have perfect knowledge of the plot, but thealbum seems to be the tale of an atheist who comes to discover Godin his life, yet still has difficulty accepting what he has nowseen. Right there, you know this isn't an album aimed for radio -not with tracks titled "There Is No God," a song guaranteed to makePat Robertson cringe.

What might be lost in the "controversy" of the material is thefact that Extreme sound funkier than they had in a long time.Former drummer Paul Geary makes his final appearances with the bandon Waiting For The Punchline, and his drumming finally movedaway from the robotic beat he seemed to be keeping on III Sides To Every Story. Guitarist Nuno Bettencourtcontinues to prove that he knows how to shred when the moment callsfor it (though I did find myself wishing I heard a rhythm guitarduring some of his solos), bassist Pat Badger acts as the backbonefor the band's rhythm section. And Cherone? His vocals are aspowerful as ever; no surprise there.

What is surprising on Waiting For The Punchline is that it does seem difficult tofollow the story line. "Cynical" obviously seems to be people'scriticism of the protagonist for his agnostic ways, while "HipToday" and "Midnight Express," despite the latter featuring some ofBettencourt's best guitar work, don't really seem to fit in withthe story.

Be this as it may, most of the music contained therein is strongenough to keep your interest. Cuts like "Tell Me Something I Don'tKnow," "Leave Me Alone" and "Shadow Boxing" all demonstrate whyExtreme gained so many fans in their career. Still, others, like"Unconditionally" and "Evilangelist" don't live up to theirpotential.

This brings us to the hidden title track - the final, confusingpiece in the puzzle. Does the song mean to suggest that theprotagonist's "revelation" scenes have all been a cruel joke? Or isthe reason it was uncredited was because it didn't fit with thestory?

Whatever the case, many fans found themselves waiting for thepunchline; the album hardly set the charts on fire. After months ofrumors, Extreme finally was laid to rest after this album, withBettencourt pursuing a solo career and Cherone making the leap intothe lead singer/ejector seat in Van Halen.

For a moment, let's cast away the story that intertwines thesongs on Waiting For The Punchline. What you're left with is acollection of songs that, more often than not, hit the target, andhit it hard.

If you're a fan of Extreme, Waiting For The Punchline is probably already in yourcollections. If it isn't, it's still worth picking up. Just beprepared to give it several listens in order for everything to sinkin.

The families of the hostages captured by Hamas have waited six excruciating weeks for news of them, especially about if or when their loved ones will be free, as you've just heard. Boaz Atzili is among those who are waiting. He is a professor at American University here in Washington, D.C. His cousin Aviv Atzili and his cousin's wife, Liat, have been missing since Hamas torched the kibbutz where they live on October 7. And Boaz Atzili is with us now. Good morning. Thank you so much for speaking with us.

ATZILI: No. We haven't heard anything since October 7. We just know that they're - disappeared from their home, and the home was burned, and there's no sign of body. We know that his phone was geolocated to Gaza. That's all we know. So we hope that as part of this deal, at least we get some more information, whether they're there, whether they're alive.

MARTIN: May I ask your thoughts on the terms of this deal, what you've been hearing so far? - the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, the incentive to release more hostages, women and children first, obviously, but then incentives to release more. What are your thoughts about it?

ATZILI: So, you know, I'm not quite objective being a family member, but I think first of all, every hostage that is released, it's good. It's very good - in particular, the children that will be released. That will be wonderful. It's just been heart-wrenching for their families and everybody. As far as I know, men are not included in this deal. So my cousin Aviv will not be back, at least in the first phase. If Liat will be among the people released, that's really a blessing. But I really hope that the deal will be - could be expanded, that they will use the pause or cease-fire, whatever they want to call it, to expand the deal and to release all of the hostages. And no price is too high to pay for the life of so many people.

ATZILI: As you can imagine, it's extremely hard. Yes, they have three children. They are young adult, and they are in Eilat in a hotel where they were evacuated from the kibbutz. Two of them work at the kibbutz. At the time of the attack, one of them basically held the handle for the safe room for many hours while Hamas was in the house. They stole everything from the house, but they didn't torch it, fortunately. So they're in - they're basically refugees, internally displaced at this point. And they are waiting for their parents. They don't know if they're going to see them again, if they ever going to hug them again.

MARTIN: I'm so sorry. It's - it is beyond words. But before I let you go, may I ask, is there something you particularly would want the negotiators to know as they continue to try to secure the release of the hostages?

ATZILI: You know, I just want to say that in addition to the hostages, we know that the price of civilian Palestinian lives is terrible, really terrible. And Aviv and Liat are peace-loving people. They are peace advocates. They're not - I want to tell the Palestinians that these are not your enemies. We all need to look ahead, and there are two nations, two people in this small land, and neither of them is going anywhere. So, yeah. So we need to start to think about peaceful solution.

MARTIN: That is Boaz Atzili. His cousin Aviv and his cousin's wife, Liat, are believed to be hostages of Hamas in Gaza. Mr. Atzili, my deepest wishes for the safety of your family and for your well-being and for peace.

Whether Tiger Woods has hit rock bottom in his personal life nobody knows. Even if he never fouls up again, there's a good chance the tabloid press has been stockpiling and saving juicy tidbits from months past to dole out in accordance with the public appetite for scandal.

Bottom line, only three players outscored him over 72 holes. That's fairly astonishing, considering Tiger's Sunday tee shots were travelling as erratically as his Escalade did on the night that golf's greatest player first became a punch line.

Worse and worse, yet all the while Tiger climbed the leader board higher and higher, all the way up to a fourth-place tie with K.J. Choi, who was tied for the lead with eventual champion Phil Mickelson going into Amen Corner but couldn't keep it going.

The final-round scorecard that Tiger could barely stand to sign without holding his nose? It had a three-under 69 on it, which was two shots better than 54-hole leader Lee Westwood could manage on his pressure-packed trudge through the pines.

Fact is, Mickelson, with all that brilliant scrambling, bettered Tiger by just two strokes in Sunday's round alone. Two strokes isn't much of an edge considering one superstar was at something approaching peak performance and the other, thoroughly confused and disgusted, seemed ready to ditch his swing altogether and take a swat at playing left-handed.

What's more, the awkward house-of-mirrors atmosphere created by his own foul behavior off the course can't help but improve the next time he plays at the Quail Hollow Championship or the Players Championship or wherever it may be.

Those who want Tiger to win every event he plays will be out there cheering for him like always. Those who wanted him to suffer some sort of withering punishment were treated to exactly that on Sunday, and thus should be ready to move on a bit.

The contrast couldn't have been more extreme as Lefty and his loving family provided a scene worthy of the Hallmark Channel behind the 18th green. Nobody was waiting to give Tiger a hug, who until getting caught apparently lived his life like an audition for the Playboy Channel instead.

Someone in the group said there's only one way this comeback could have gone better, and that's if Tiger won the Masters. They know the truth, that their man can't possibly beat Mickelson off the course when it comes to presenting an admirable, family-man image. On the course, however, it won't be long before it's not even a fair fight again.

The stage is still set for a return to dominance, with the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where Tiger won by 15 strokes in 2000, and the British Open at St. Andrews, where he added two more of his 14 major titles.

The frustration with an obstinate "do-nothing" Congress is the cardinal reason for the body's abysmal public support (lower even than the president's) and inspiration for the skepticism that, particularly in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, the prospects for meaningful legislation hover around zero.

The Republican majorities in the House and Senate don't have to adopt a fighting posture with President Barack Obama to make key progress on issues that will make a difference to a broad swath of Americans.

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