music Archives - Page 193 of 264 - Ramblin' with Roger

November Rambling: Eddie, the Renaissance Geek, turns 50; Jaquandor’s book now available for purchase

The official video for Cuts Like a Winter by Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact

John Oliver’s Complicated Fun Connects for HBO. Perhaps John Oliver Is Outdoing The Daily Show and Colbert. In any case, Yet Another Study Shows US Satire Programs Do A Better Job Informing Viewers Than Actual News Outlets.

The Motion Picture Academy chose to bestow a special award to Harry Belafonte, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. “Belafonte’s remarks offer both a pointed and powerful rebuke of Hollywood’s past and a stirring inducement to continue the industry’s more recent progress on human rights issues.”

Re the Ferguson protests, which I saw described as “mind-bogglingly incomprehensible”: It’s Incredibly Rare For A Grand Jury To Do What Ferguson’s Just Did, as even Antonin Scalia could tell you. So Mark Evanier’s thoughts largely echo mine. Related: video showing the moments leading up to the fatal shooting by police of a 22-year-old Saratoga Springs, Utah man, Darrien Hunt.

6 Things You Might Not Think Are Harassment But Definitely Are (BECAUSE APPARENTLY WE NEED TO CLEAR A FEW THINGS UP).

Eddie, the Renaissance Geek turns 50 this month and deals with melanoma on his birthday AND a disappointing Election Day with amazing good humor. No brain cancer, but there is cancer in the liver. Here’s a piece about the Purple Power Port. Insight into how Eddie’s brain works.

Why your brain loves rewards and how playing an instrument benefits your brain.

Jaquandor’s book STARDANCER is available for purchase. Now he’s off working on the next one. Please note, the book will NOT be available in all of these formats!

The Unbelievable Skepticism of the Amazing Randi, Uri Geller’s archrival.

I thought the Grimm fairy tales I own were rather grim, but the Grimm brothers’ fairytales have blood and horror restored in new translation. Also, fairy tale truths revealed.

Rise of the “Dones” at church.

Dustbury notes Kickstarter duds and password rules.

8 things you should never feed to cats and dogs. Such as chocolate, which we’re running out of, anyway.

Stamping Out Danger and a spy needed a perfect passport — down to the staples.

On Veterans Day, Marvel Comics saluted Jack Kirby… for his military service.

New Bill Watterson comic because we can’t have enough Bill Watterson.

Someone was doing a search for sources of vinyl records and discovered this image. “Damn, if Sonny Rollins doesn’t have a doppelganger right here at Corporate Woods.”

The Science Behind Why Some People Can Sing And Others Can’t.

Nice piece about Grace, who sings in my church choir.

The song Boy in the Bubble irritates me. More correctly, the fact that the 12″ version [LISTEN] hasn’t appeared on any Paul Simon album that I’m aware of bugs me. The only version I have I copied onto a cassette from a friend’s 12″.

The official video for Cuts Like a Winter by Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact. Also, Bang Bang (Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj) cover by Siren’s Crush, featuring Rebecca Jade (the first niece).

Music by Jayne Mansfield, backed by Jimi Hendrix.

When some network news program comes back from the break playing some old song, there’s a good chance the artist has died. Such was the case for Jimmy Ruffin.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Dolly Parton has long been an icon to the gay community.

You know it’s All About That Baste and All About That Base (No Acid). This has become a cottage industry!

Elvis Costello goes grocery shopping, 1978.

Elvis Presley is dead, but how did he die?

Fans of music who like to flatly say U2 is no longer relevant need to define what they mean by that.

The Crosby, Stills and Nash cover photo. As opposed to Famous Album Cover Photos Uncropped to Reveal ‘The Bigger Picture’.

Remembering the pugilistic power of Rod Serling on the Twilight Zone.

A story about Welcome Back, Kotter’s John Sylvester-White who played the cranky school principal, Mr. Woodman.

Noel Neill is 95. Here are pictures from an earlier time.

It’s a floor wax AND a credit card.

Muppet galore: Quongo and Roosevelt Franklin (who I LOVED) and Frazzle and Gonzo’s enlightenment and Cookie Monster and John Oliver and clap, clap, clap. Also, “Sesame Street has a series online called Welcome to the Furchester Hotel, which is British but also features Elmo and Cookie Monster. It’s cute, and there’s a new 11-minute episode each Friday.”

Unlock the Secrets of your Poop.

GOOGLE ALERT (me)

A whale of a tale. Hat tip to Mr. Frog.

GOOGLE ALERT (not me)

Hanceville to seek a $160K grant for firefighter equipment. “Fire Chief Roger Green asked the council to approve applying for $159,547.76 through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program. The Cullman County Economic Development agency will write the grant for the fire department, Green said.” This is in Alabama, BTW.

The Lydster, Part 128: Weird Al

The Daughter asked if I’ve done an ABC Wednesday Y is for Yankovic; why, yes, I have.

The Daughter was introduced to Weird Al Yankovic on the release of his July 2014 album, Mandatory Fun, which opened at #1 on the Billboard charts, the first comedy album since 1963 to top the charts. She went away for about a week to Grandma and Grandpa’s house in mid-August, spending time with her 13 y.o. twin cousins and she comes home a Weird Al maven.

This is not a bad thing, mind you. I’ve been following the musician’s career for about three and a half decades, back when it was primarily him playing the accordion on songs such as My Bologna (parody of The Knack’s My Sharona) and Another One Rides the Bus (take on Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust)- versions you can hear HERE – before his sound got more sophisticated and full with I Love Rocky Road (Joan Jett’s I Love Rock and Roll), Eat It (Michael Jackson’s Beat It) and Ricky (an I Love Lucy pastiche based on Mickey by Toni Basil).

The Daughter asked if I’ve done an ABC Wednesday Y is for Yankovic; why, yes, I have.

She came up with her Top 10 videos. All of the songs can be found HERE except the newest ones, indicated with an *, which can be found on the Weird Al main page.

10. Handy* (home repair, based on Fancy by Iggy Azalea)
9. Like a Surgeon (based on Like a Virgin by Madonna)
8. Fat (based on Michael Jackson’s Bad)
7. Eat It
6. I Lost on JEOPARDY! (about the TV game show, based on the Greg Kihn Band’s Jeopardy)
5. White and Nerdy (parody of “Ridin'” by Chamillionaire)
4. Foil* (about the aluminum wrap, based on Royals by Lorde)
3. Word Crimes* (about linguistic sins, based on Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke)
2. Amish Paradise (based on Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio)
1. First World Problems* (style parody of Pixies)

She challenged me to come up with my own list, but it’s so changeable. Here’s a snapshot in time:

10. Trapped In The Drive-Thru (based on Trapped in the Closet by R. Kelly)
9. Dare To Be Stupid (style parody of Devo)
8. Stop Forwarding This Crap To Me (style parody of Jim Steinman, who wrote a lot for Meat Loaf)
7. Tacky* (based on Happy by Pharrell Williams)
6. Gump (about the movie character Forrest Gump, based on Lump by The Presidents of the United States of America)
5. Mission Statement* (every business cliche you hate, a style parody of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
4. Amish Paradise
3. I Lost on JEOPARDY! – since I have, this HAD to be on the list
2. Word Crimes*
1. Smells Like Nirvana (parody of Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana)

But her affection for Foil, Handy, and especially First World Problem may alter my list.

She also insisted that The Wife, less seeped in Yankovicmania, make her list:

5. Like A Surgeon
4. Fat
3. Eat It
2. Tacky
1. Word Crimes

Who’s your favorite?

Writer Ken Levine did this, picking his favorite performer for a variety of roles. I can do that. Who is your favorite:

Felix & Oscar? I saw the television show, with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman first. The movie, with Lemmon and Matthau was great. But the room for the characters to develop through over 100 episodes on TV makes Tony & Jack my favorites. I did enjoy the short-lived version with Ron Glass as Felix and Demond Wilson as Oscar. Always wondered what the Sally Struthers/Rita Moreno version was like. Just read that ” Matthew Perry will be starring, co-writing, and executive-producing a remake…[which] will start airing in midseason 2015 on CBS. Perry will play Oscar Madison, a known slob; the role of his clean freak roomie Felix Unger will be portrayed by Thomas Lennon.”

James Bond? I STILL have not seen in a theater a James Bond movie. I’ll pick Sean Connery, because I did see some of his films on TV.

Superman? I suppose it’s Christopher Reeve, the guy from the movies c. 1978. Though George Reeves on the TV, and even the Fleisher cartoons voiced by Bud Collyer were under consideration.

Batman? (Michael Keaton? Really?) Sure, why not Michael Keaton, if only because he was better than I expected. And he was in the only movies I saw, except for the one with Adam West.

Lois Lane? Terri Hatcher from Lois and Clark, though Noel Neill from the early TV show also gets consideration.

Sherlock Holmes? The current TV show with Jonny Lee Miller

Dr. Who? I only watched the Tom Baker period with anything approaching regularity.

Darrin Stephens? Dick York, the original husband on Bewitched.

Hawkeye? Again, years of playing a character, in this case for over a decade, gives Alan Alda a real advantage over Donald Sutherland.

Host of THE PRICE IS RIGHT? While I had admiration for both Bill Cullen and Dennis James, and I’ve only seen Drew Carey a few times, I’ll go with Bob Barker, the long-time host.
***
Who else could we compare?

Alex Trebek has been doing it for the last 30 years, and I’ve gotten used to him. But I liked the jovial Art Fleming as host of JEOPARDY!, and he appears in the Weird Al video.

Clearly, I’ve spent WAY more time with the original Star Trek cast than the newcomers (seen only the first film of the reboot), so that’d be no contest, thus far. BTW, those are the Captains Kirk above.

Best presidential pair with a common surname: Roosevelt over Adams, I reckon. Don’t think Harrison, Johnson or Bush are really in the running.

One could take on music groups:
Which Van Halen lead singer? David Lee Roth
Genesis with or without Peter Gabriel? Each has its qualities
Which iteration of Fleetwood Mac? Ditto, though a lesser bands sans Christine McVie
Which group of Temptations? I actually preferred them after David Ruffin left and was replaced by Dennis Edwards before Eddie Kendrick left, the beginning of the psychedelic soul period.
Which Beatles drummer, Pete Best or Ringo Starr? OK, I was kidding with the last one.

Give me more!

Ten favorite songs

There’s some video out there of current women lipsynching to this song, as though the radical nature of the message from a half century ago wasn’t self-evident.

Recently my friend Doug forwarded an interesting challenge to pick my ten favorite songs without repeating a single band or artist. He wrote:
“Too challenging, for the paring down process of what makes any list becomes about as instinctive as picking a Grammy (et al) winner — and I genuinely dislike that ‘process’. But, it is about music, and about the sharing thereof, and I love a good challenge.”

I don’t worry so much, because this is not a definitive list, THE ten songs because that would be simply impossible for me. Whatever my 10 songs are likely will be different the next time I compiled the list, based in part on what I’ve been listening to.

And my FAVORITE by an artist is often fairly fluid as well. In other words, I couldn’t allow myself to be so tied down when mood and events can have such an impact.

1. White Room – Cream. This choice was clearly influenced by the recent death of vocalist/bassist Jack Bruce. But when I do my top 10 songs featuring Eric Clapton next year, this song may, or may not, be #1.

2. You Don’t Own Me – Lesley Gore. There’s some video out there of current women lipsynching to this song, as though the radical nature of the message from a half-century ago wasn’t self-evident.

3. Eight Days a Week – The Beatles. The first song that Paul McCartney played in Albany, NY on July 7, 2014, an event that made The Daughter squeal with excitement.

4. I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow – Soggy Bottom Boys. From the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. The Wife and I saw Alison Krauss in 2003 (or 2002) in Albany, and loved singer Dan Tyminski’s story about his wife’s reaction when his voice came from George Clooney’s movie lips.

5. Mercy Mercy Mercy – the Buckinghams. There are better versions of this song, notably by Cannonball Adderly, but this is the first version I knew.

6. Run For A Long Time – Bill Landford & The Landfordaires. This 1943 “version of the traditional folk song ‘God’s Gonna Cut You Down’… [was] later sampled by Moby for ‘Run On’, on ‘Play’ CD.” Also covered by Johnny Cash, Tom Jones, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and MANY others.

7. Time Has Come Today – The Chambers Brothers. I AM psychedelicized.

8. Cat Food – King Crimson. I feed my cats most mornings and many evenings. This song, from an album I have on vinyl, has been popping into my head recently.

9. Logical Song – Supertramp. As true now as when I first heard it three and a half decades ago.

10. April in Paris – Count Basie. Love the “Pop Goes the Weasel” bridge, and “one more, once.”

There were a couple of other songs I considered, but either couldn’t find a video (e.g., I Am Waiting – Ollabelle), or the right version.

October Rambling: Enough with Dystopia; the Conservative-to-English Lexicon

My favorite website these days is The Weekly Sift. Sam Harris and the Orientalization of Islam and 7 Liberal Lessons of Ebola.

Sexual Assault in the Bakken Shale “Man Camps”.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Civil Forfeiture. “Oliver references a September report from The Washington Post, which states that, since 9/11, police have seized $2.5 billion in 61,998 cash seizures from people ‘who were not charged with a crime.’ ‘Under civil forfeiture laws, your property is guilty until you prove it innocent.'” Read more. And here’s another example

Modern art was CIA ‘weapon’.

The Forgotten Coup – How the US and Britain Crushed the Government of Their “Ally” Australia.

A Conservativeve-to-English Lexicon, 2nd edition.

Author Wants Southern States To Secede Over Gay Rights, Name New Country ‘Reagan’.

Whites riot over pumpkins in NH and Twitter turns it into epic lesson about Ferguson.

The Problem With That Catcalling Video.

A veteran teacher turned coach shadows 2 students for 2 days – a sobering lesson learned.

Condolences to my buddy Steve Bissette, whose dad passed peacefully on October 28.

The late Marcia Strassman was NOT happy on Welcome Back, Kotter.

Unfortunately, the cancer has returned for Eddie Mitchell, the Renaissance Geek. Send him a good thought.

How (Not) to Talk About Vaccines.

Atheist At A Funeral: A Contemplation In Four Hymns.

Want to see the Dole/Kemp 1996 campaign Web site? Dustbury notes that you still can see it and a lot more at the 4president.org site.

In an excerpt of The Republicans: A History of the Grand Old Party by American history professor Lewis L. Gould, he recounts the mid-’90s Republicans’ desperation to preserve their image — and how that desperation led them to impeach President Bill Clinton.

Chorus Nylander – Rebecca Jade Interview. Also, Brianna Cara, Angie Sagastume and Rebecca Jade sing the national anthem. Plus Help Rebecca Jade make a new album!

Cover versions you may not have known were covers.

Quincy Jones on Sinatra, Mentorship and His New Clark Terry Documentary.

2014 may be the first year ever with ZERO platinum-certified albums since they started the designation. But never underestimate Taylor Swift.

The Technical Constraints That Made Abbey Road So Good.

Chuck Miller: They’re tearing down 309 South Broad Street in Philadelphia.

Jeff Sharlet: The Writer Who’s Using Longform to Take Instagram to the Next Level. BTW, he recently sent me a pic of his late mom, his sister, himself and myself from c. 1979.

Ken Screven on being the only black kid in the class. I can relate; that was me for most of K-9.

Enough With Dystopias: It’s Time For Sci-Fi Writers To Start Imagining Better Futures. To that end, both SamuraiFrog and Jason Bennion recommend the new book by Jaquandor called ~~Princesses in Space!~~ Stardancer. Read all about it at his new site, ForgottenStars.net. Especially you, Uthaclena.

Speaking of Jaquandor, he reviews a book about minor league baseball that makes me want to read the tome. Or better still, go to a game. Cartoon: Why Baseball Is Better. Short audio: Take Me Out to the Ball Game – The Skeletons. Commercial: Throwing like a girl.

These Are the Grammar Rules You Don’t Need to Follow. Also, 10 Grammar Mistakes People Love To Correct (That Aren’t Actually Wrong). OK, but I just can’t say “data is…”

TV Legend Norman Lear: ‘Even This I Get To Experience’. He was the creative force behind All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons and many more programs.

The Nine Lives of ‘Saturday Night Live’.

Film Reviews by Cotton Mather.

Dull Men’s Club.

Playtex Living Spacesuits. Don’t think the movie has come out yet.

My computer screen went sideways this month, for some reason. I found how I turn it back: Try pressing Ctrl + Alt + UP Arrow Key, or try Ctrl + Alt + and a different Arrow Key.

SamuraiFrog’s alphabetical Muppet gallery includes Lenny the Lizard and Mr. Johnson (one of my FAVES) and Nutty Bird and Ohreally and the wonderful Prairie Dawn; the school plays on the latter are great. Plus Bill Cosby and the Muppets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLeUvZvuvAs&feature=share
Sesame Street: Janelle Monae- Power of Yet

John Cale & Brian Eno / Spinning Away

A mildly interesting story about Mark Evanier, Henry Kloss and home electronics. But this coda is even better.

The Strange History of Corn Flakes, which, being a cereal aficionado, I actually knew.

Every time you make a typo, the errorists win.

GOOGLE ALERTS (me)

Arthur writes about that Raven no racial/sexuality labels thing. (BTW, Cosmo responds to Raven.) He also muses about mayonnaise.

Dustbury notes the Tchotchke Index.

Jaquandor cites me watching MASH reruns.I also made his sentential links HERE.

Both Jaquandor and Dustbury are sad about the apparent cancellation of the Fantastic Four comic book.