music Archives - Page 110 of 268 - Ramblin' with Roger

August rambling: extreme inequality

this is not a drill — Stolen from HERE and HERE

Extreme Inequality Is Driving Anxiety and Depression in the US

Is It Obvious Yet that Tariffs Injure Americans?

#TrumpRecession Trends as he is blamed for rising fears of another economic meltdown

E Pluribus Unum? The Fight Over Identity Politics

A Life of Incalculable Harm: David Koch (1940-2019)

The Amazon isn’t “Burning” – It’s Being Burned

Man cuffed by police, forced out of his own home in his underwear after ‘sleeping while black’

CNN interview with Randy Rainbow

The Simpsons: Fleeing the Squad in ‘West Side Story’ Parody

The Daily Show: Donsplaining

The US is about to withdraw from the United Nations’ Universal Postal Union (UPU) – why?

Art Spiegelman: golden age superheroes were shaped by the rise of fascism

Secrets and Lies in the School Cafeteria; A tale of missing money, heated lunchroom arguments, and flaxseed pizza crusts

I Shared My Phone Number. I Learned I Shouldn’t Have. “Our personal tech columnist asked security researchers what they could find out about him from just his cellphone number. Quite a lot, it turns out.”

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov

Going against the decluttering craze: THE BOOK HOARDERS WHO DEFY MARIE KONDO

There Is No Reason to Cross the U.S. by Train. But I Did It Anyway. I would absolutely do this.

Smoke Detector Placement: Your Guide to Installing Carbon Monoxide and Fire Alarms

Peter Fonda, the ‘Easy Rider’ star and counterculture icon, dies at 79

The acclaimed animator who created Roger Rabbit dies. Richard Williams, 86, who worked on hit films such as The Pink Panther, won three Oscars and three Baftas

Binghamton, NY Broadcasting legend Bill Parker has passed away at the age of 91. I was on his show… in 1958.

John Green: What to Love and How

Anderson Cooper interviewing Stephen Colbert became largely about dealing with grief

Where would Las Vegas be without the fruit machine, the invention of car mechanic Charles Fey?

Norwich Cathedral helter-skelter ‘is a mistake’

Monty Python tease re: the writing and filming of Life of Brian

Commercials that travel well

6 Similarities Between Star Wars And Zen Buddhism

The New Prospectors: Every year, members of the Gold Prospectors Association of America pack up their RVs in search of adventure, friendship, and a bucketful of pay dirt

Now I know: Why Capital Letters are Called “Upper Case” and 1968: A Space, and Financial Services, Odyssey and The Easter Egg Hunt That Caught a Bad Egg and What Are All Those Dots On My Car’s Windshield? and Why We Pour Milk on our Cereal and When Pants Were a Ticket to Jail

Never could figure out these damn things

Record Review- Roger Green

MUSIC

Starman – MonaLisa Twins

16 Revelations About Fiddler on the Roof

Love Letters – Alicia Beale

Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major by Alma Deutscher

Praying For Time / The Rain Song [George Michael & Led Zeppelin mashup] – Puddles Pity Party

Symphonic Dances from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein

K-Chuck Radio: Paul McCartney’s not quite dead yet and In honor of Kris’ birthday

Pink Panther theme – all about the bass

What About Us [Pink Cover] – One Voice Children’s Choir

Who’s Sorry Now? – Gloria DeHaven

Coverville: 1274: This Day in Covers: August 14, 1984 and 1275: Cover Stories for Thin Lizzy, Jamie Cullum and KISS

Gloria – Los Doltons

All My Happiness Is Gone – David Berman, RIP

Annie Lennox: ‘Now I Let You Go…’

Who will remember us — and for how long?

mass moca.annie lennox The family, including all of my immediate in-laws, spent nearly a week in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts There’s a lot of cultural landmarks there, including the Norman Rockwell Museum, which I’ve been to at least thrice.

This year, my wife and I attended three other museums/galleries. First up, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, generally referred to as MASS MoCA.

One of the first things we saw was Annie Lennox’s ‘Now I Let You Go…’. This link will tell you most of what you need to know. A docent pointed out one thing I DIDN’T notice, that a piano on top of the pile shows up in shadow on a far wall, and it’s quite affecting. The musician had a vision for the piece, and contacted MASS MoCA, according to a radio interview. She writes:

We interact with an infinity of objects from birth to the grave.

Over time our ‘belongings’ become more steeped and resonant with memory and nostalgia.
In many ways, personal objects express aspects of who we are — our identity: our values: our statements and choices.

The passages of time through which we exist become defined by the objects with which we interact.

The artifacts contained within the earthen mound — partially buried — partially excavated — have all played a part in my life.

I have had a special connection to each item presented — a connection that has been hard to relinquish.

In time, we will all disappear from this earth.

This is our destiny.

What will we leave behind? Who will remember us — and for how long?

I heard music in the background that sounded like Eurhythmics’ Sweet Dreams Are Made of This, yet not exactly. It was the song played backward, it turns out.

Coincidentally, two other female musicians also had displays at the museum, but I saw neither. Unfortunately, the paintings of Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders leave at the end of August 2019. The work of Laurie Anderson will be there through 2020, but one has to make an appointment in advance.

Things we did see included Still I Rise (through May 2020), the ceiling lights of Spencer Finch’s Cosmic Latte, and the most impressive Hello America: 40 Hits from the 50 States, a new wall drawing by Joe Caldwell (the latter two through 2020 at least).

Admission is $20, but you can come back the next day for free. If our schedule had permitted, we would most certainly have done that. Since the last time we went – could it have been in 2007? – it had taken over far more repurposed old factory buildings than the handful where the museum once existed.

By the time we got to Woodstock

one of the greatest moments in popular music history

Woodstock poster The Woodstock Music & Art Fair took place August 15 to August 18, 1969, on a dairy farm in Bethel, New York owned by Max Yasgur. Over 30 acts performed over the sometimes rainy weekend in front of at least 400,000 concertgoers.

I didn’t get to go to “one of the greatest moments in popular music history,” though I surely wanted to. However, my friends and I saw the movie that was released in March 1970, fairly early in its run. And then we watched the three-hour movie AGAIN, back when theater owners didn’t care if you did that.

The second time, I remember looking at the purple of the light projecting onto the screen as Sly and the Family Stone was performing. And I wasn’t even TAKING anything – really!

The soundtrack to the movie was released on May 1970. I surely bought the 3-LP set before the summer was out, and played it incessantly. A second album of two LPs came out the following year, a lesser collection.

Some artists did not appear on either set, because their record label wouldn’t allow it, or because they didn’t think they sounded good enough, or because the artist wanted an album of just their music.

In 1994, Woodstock: Three Days of Peace and Music a 4-CD set with additional tracks came out. In 2009, Woodstock 40 Years On: Back To Yasgur’s Farm, a 6-CD collection was released.

I thought I’d pick some artists not represented in the first two albums. This proved to be more difficult than I thought. I found three “complete” sets of one artist that ran from 30 to 75 minutes.

Day 1

Sweetwater – Look Out or Two Worlds
Bert Sommer – Jennifer
Tim Hardin – If I Were a Carpenter; more Tim
Ravi Shankar – Evening Raga

Day 2

Quill – Waiting For You
The Keef Hartley Band – Spanish Fly/ Think it Over/ Too Much Thinking/ I Believe in You; to my knowledge, the band has never been featured on any Woodstock recording, nor were they featured in the film.
The Incredible String Band – The Letter
Grateful Dead – part 1
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Born on the Bayou/ I Put a Spell On You/ Keep on Chooglin’
Janis Joplin – Try/ Ball and Chain

Day 3

The Band – full set
Johnny Winter – full set
Blood, Sweat & Tears – full set

Oh, what the heck: two songs about Woodstock

The song – Joni Mitchell
Who’ll Stop the Rain – CCR; John Fogerty on the musical legacy of the concert

August rambling: No room for fear

Fall Springs, a New Musical

at the drop of a hat Condolences to fillyjonk on the death of her father.

The Rise and Fall of ‘Mentally Retarded’.

How vaccines cause autism.

How to Prepare for a Hurricane.

Dr Dicky Doyle.

Jeff Lasky on JEOPARDY! Part 1 and Part 2 and Questions answered.

The Man with the Golden Airline Ticket.

When New Yorkers Were Menaced By Banana Peels.

Now I Know: Nothing Motivates Like Free Pizza and Why You Shouldn’t Discount Discounts and Why Those Two Little Black Bumps Are In The Road.

TONI MORRISON, R.I.P.

The Los Angesles time obituary.

Her Black Art Spoke in a Nation That Would Silence Us

No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear; In times of dread, artists must never choose to remain silent.

Angela Davis, Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez Pay Tribute

In her own words.

We feel like she’s a piece of us: her time in Albany (I am briefly quoted)

AMERICAN ROULETTE

The U.S. Culture of Violence is Killing Us All.

The Second Amendment doesn’t give you the right to own a gun; Federalist Papers #29.

‘A Guarantee of Not Being Shot Is Impossible’: Amnesty Issues Global Travel Warning to All People in the United States.

Americans are saving too little for retirement.

Why Didn’t America Become Part of the Modern World?

:Republican Whataboutism Gets More Desperate.

Foreign Policy magazine cataloged the U.S. Democratic presidential primary candidates’ stances on foreign-policy issues.

djt

Desperate Fear.

The regime’s trade threats, tariffs, and bullying both allies and rivals into submission was based on an ambitious theory. It turned out to be a fallacy. and More tariffs ahead as he admits agriculture deal with China never really existed and Wall Street Fears He Is Too Dumb to End Trade War Before 2020.

Republicans Now Are More Open to the Idea of Expanding Presidential Power.

MUSIC

Nasty Man – Joan Baez.

C’mon Science — Fall Springs, a New Musical.

THE 8 WEIRDEST VIDEOS MTV PLAYED ON ITS FIRST DAY Yes, it includes Lifeguard.

Heartbeats Accelerating – Linda Ronstadt.

Harry Belafonte: Turn Around and Jump in the Line.

All Over the Place – HYLLS

Coverville: 1272: The 35th Anniversary Track by Track Cover of Purple Rain and 1273: Cover Stories for Counting Crows and Dire Straits.

Inspirit – Lola Astanova.

K-Chuck: the funkiest tracks buried deep in his record collection.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG DANCES WITH SUSIE Q DOLLS?

Rhiannon Giddens: Defiant in the Face of “Othering” and What Folk Music Means.

The woman who saved Paul McCartney | 60 Minutes Australia.

Movie review: Yesterday (2019)

Of course, the music was great

Yesterday_(2019_poster) The Saturday before the trip to Indiana, the family was in Binghamton for a family reunion. Since we started early enough, we decided to stop at the AMC Theater near Binghamton to see the new movie Yesterday.

I’d been seeing the trailer for months. The premise is high concept. “Struggling UK musician Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) decides to give up his career, despite the support of his manager Ellie Appleton (Lily James). But in a bizarre twist, he suddenly realizes that he remembers the music of The Beatles, but apparently no one else does.

“Realizing this improbable opportunity, Jack begins playing the music of the greatest of the rock bands, claiming it as his own. It pays off quickly and Jack becomes a worldwide musical sensation.” But how long can you pass off someone else’s art as your own?

I know this will come as a big surprise to y’all, but I’ve been a huge fan of the Beatles for over a half century. I accepted the premise, and laughed out loud few times. The performances were enjoyable, including those by Kate McKinnon as a hard-edged music producer, and Ed Sheeran as a character named Ed Sheeran.

The critics were only so-so about Yesterday (63% positive on Rotten Tomatoes, though 89% of the audiences liked it). It’s not without its flaws, but I found it a lovely, escapist tale. Hey, Paul and Ringo liked it.

I was particularly struck by Lily James as the friend taken for granted. She is SO much different than the her performance as the titular character in All About Eve.

Of course, the music was great. There’s always speculation how the Beatles would be received now, but the band is so much a part of the cultural DNA, it is really unanswerable.

A little about the AMC theater. We went there as a result of a retirement gift card from one of my sisters The venue on the Vestal Parkway has great, cushy leatheresque seats that recline. It was quite possibly the most comfortable cinematic setting I’ve been to.

On the other hand, it had fully 30 minutes of previews. I don’t mind seeing three or four coming attractions, but I lost count after eight. The nice thing is that they indicated when the film was opening, presumably so you could buy your ticket TODAY.