Tag: entertainment
Daniele Vitale – Playing the biggest sax in the world
An evening pause: Fascinating and entertaining, but that last song was not meant to be played on this instrument.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Gene Krupa & Buddy Rich – Drum Battle
Icehouse – Great Southern Land
An evening pause: Performed live 2005.
Hat tip Phil Berardelli, who says this song is this Australian band’s love anthem to their country.
Alexander Sevastian – Bach’s Organ Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Take A Pebble
Tanya Tucker & Delbert McClinton – Tell me about it
Michael Knowles – Celebrating Columbus
An evening pause: I posted this two years ago, and think it should be seen again. As I wrote then,
On this day when all should be celebrating Christopher Columbus and his willingness “sail beyond the sunset,” to use a phrase from Tennyson, this short video give us an accurate picture of the man, his times, and his achievements. It also puts the lie to the bigoted, hateful, leftist slanders that have been used in recent years to poison his legacy.
Tate Naugle – Dad Jokes
Nicole Scherzinger & Lang Lang – Reflection
Lonnie Johnson – Another Night to Cry
Armstrong and Miller – The Art Historian’s Most Clumsiest Moments
An evening pause: Ben Miller of the Armstrong and Miller show does a series of wonderful send-ups of the typical narrator/anchor of public television documentaries. This short skit appears to have been a regular running gag on their show. More funny routines here.
The Petersens – You’re Still the One
An evening pause: According to the group, this cover has special meaning. From the youtube webpage: “After all these years of playing music together despite so many people advising us to choose a different path, it reminds us of the beauty of sticking to something good.”
Hat tip Alton Blevins.
Hadar Nehemya – Song of Songs
An evening pause: As Friday night begins the Sabbath in the Jewish faith, this seems appropriate tonight. The group is called 12 Tribes Music. Watch with closed captions turned on to see the King James English translation of these the lyrics, from the Song of Solomon of the Old Testament. The improvised sections of the performance however are wholly modern.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Josh Groban – Pure Imagination
An evening pause: The song was first performed by Gene Wilder in the 1971 film Willa Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, posted here in 2019.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Real Engineering – The World’s Oldest Construction Project: Sagrada Familia
Gunhill Road – I Got a Line in New York City
An evening pause: Something a bit different. As noted on the youtube webpage, the visuals here “were created by human artists tapping into the assistance of leading-edge generative AI.” Normally I find the fad to go to AI to do our thinking and creativity for us to be more than appalling, but in this case it is clear the artists guided the art, and then fitted it well to the music.
Hat tip Bob Robert.
Manon – Act I, ‘Bedroom’
An evening pause: Written by Kenneth MacMillan and performed by Marianela Nuñez as Manon and Federico Bonelli as Des Grieux of the Royal Ballet.
Contrast the gentility and elegance of this dance of two, of which Astaire and Rogers were of the same class, with that of the raw modern gymnastic routines of large groups. Both have their merits, but to me there is something more civilized and thoughtful about the former.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
The Waifs – Crazy Train
Wedding String Quartet – Le Onde by Ludovico Einaudi
An evening pause: This video breaks one of rules for a good evening pause, in that is is shot from one static wide shot camera. I normally reject such videos, as the visuals are boring. I make an exception here because of the music and the arrangement, which is so breath-taking you don’t care about the visuals at all. Makes me want to know more about this composer and his work.
Hat tip Alton Blevins.
Adele – Set Fire To The Rain
Tchaikovsky – Waltz of the Flowers
An evening pause: Most people today likely associate this music with space stations and spacecraft in space (influenced by the movie 2001: a Space Odyssey), but this video shows the real reason it was written, for dancing the waltz.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Don Rickles, Ruth Buzzi, and Arte Johnson – bloopers from Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In
An evening pause: This sequence shows the almost vain attempt to shoot a series of quick jokes using the running gag of Buzzi playing her character “Gladys” on a park bench being “accosted” by Arte Johnson, playing his character “Tyrone”. Rickles adds another element. It shows again that humor is at its heart silliness. If you can’t be silly you can’t be funny, and these three comedians certainly understood that.
Hat tip Cotour.
Bonnie Raitt – Runaway
Cyndi Lauper – She Bop
An evening pause: Performed live in Japan, around 1986.
Hat tip Judd Clark, who describes this accurately as “appealingly bizarre.” To me it simply shows how Cyndi Lauper had a humble sense of humor.
Jools Holland and the Playboys – Highwire
An evening pause: For those familiar with the 1960s British television show, Danger Man (which in the U.S. was titled Secret Agent) starring Patrick McGoohan (more famous for the later spy series The Prisoner), this music will be very familiar. It was written by Edwin Astley, was the theme music for the second iteration of the British release. In the American release it was used as background music throughout the show. You can watch the entire series here. It has what I call muscle, and is well worth your time.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
Astrud Gilberto – The girl from Ipanema
Mark Felton – The Bombed British City Beneath New York
Dry Bar Comedy – Dumb song lyrics
An evening pause: This is long, but if you like popular music, of all kinds, you will find it worth the watching. To paraphrase one comedian, you will never hear these songs (or most other pop songs) the same way again.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Johnny Winter – Be Careful With A Fool
An evening pause: Performed live 1970. Tommy Shannon is on bass and Uncle John Turner is on drums.
Hat tip Judd Clark.