Category: The Evening Pause
A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.
Binbam – What is Hanukkah?
An evening pause: Most of this season I honor the Christmas holiday for my Christian readers with pauses of beautiful Christian music. Tonight however I thought it would be nice to take a break and present this short video describing the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. This year Hanukkah begins on Christmas, December 25, and runs through January 2, 2025, so I am a little early, but that’s all right.
Like almost all Jewish holidays, part of Hanukkah’s purpose is to celebrate a victory over oppression. In this case it celebrates the revolt of the Maccabees against the Greek effort to obliterate the Jews. Or as Jews like to joke about all Jewish holidays, “They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat!”
Sydney Philharmonia Choir & Orchestra – Handel’s Hallelujah
An evening pause: If this doesn’t wake you up for the weekend, nothing will.
Hat tip to both Judd Clark and James Street.
Xaver Varnus – Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor
An evening pause: Played on the great Sauer Organ of the Berliner Dom.
At the time of its dedication in 1905, the great Sauer Organ of the Berliner Dom was the largest in Germany, with its 7269 pipes and 113 registers, distributed across four manuals and pedals.
While not directly related to Christmas or the holidays, I think this piece is still appropriate for the season.
Hat tip Judd Clark, who adds, “Though I had reservations because of its length and because it has been subject to innumerable transcriptions and performances on different organs by different organists it has become cliché. But, it is an exceptional performance on an exceptional organ in an exceptional hall.”
Amy Grant – Breath of Heaven
Barlow Girl – Carol of the Bells
An evening pause: Performed simultaneously by Mrs. Rodriguez in American Sign Language.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
Faith Hill – A Baby Changes Everything
An evening pause: The song is about one particular baby, appropriate for this Christmas season. But as I’ve said before on similar songs, it applies to every child born everywhere, for all time.
Hat tip James Street.
Melinda Kathleen Reese – O Come O Come Emmanuel
An evening pause: This was first posted in February 2019. As I noted then,
The video replays her singing the same thing three times. There is a good reason, as she almost appears to have begun singing as a lark, and the acoustics of the church astonish her. The repeats help bring out this amazing quality.
I always open the Christmas-Hannukah holiday season with this truly glorious piece of music, as it speaks to both religions. And it is one magnificent song, sung here magnificently.
May all my readers have a glorious weekend.
Grissini Project – Merry go round of Life
An evening pause: The music is by Joe Hisaishi, from Hayao Miyazaki’s 2004 animated film Howl’s Moving Castle.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Daryl Hall – Can We Still Be Friends
ABBA – Chiquitita
Kamila Valieva – Avatar
An evening pause: Performed live in 2022, which explains the stupidity of her putting on a mask at the very end of the video.
Hat tip Judd Clark, who notes her sad history: “A real tragedy, an exceptional skater, her coaches gave her trimetazidine, a medication used for heart problems, which apparently makes the heart more efficient at using oxygen. Failing a drug test at 15, most of her medals and records were rescinded.”
See this page for more details. She had finished first during this competition in 2022. All for naught.
Tim McLaughlin – NYC&C Scale Model Railroad
An evening pause: The view from the front cab during runs of four elevated & subway lines, filmed October 14, 2012.
Hypnotic, and epic in its own way. There are times where it looks and sounds exactly as I remember it, riding on the front car of a NYC subway train, looking out that front window. Nice way to start the weekend.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
Frank Ifield – I Remember You
Malinda – Lucky
The Charlie Daniels Band – The Devil Went Down to Georgia
Gordon Lightfoot – The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
An evening pause: Uses nicely edited archival documentary footage and pictures to highlight to story told by the song, intercut with Lightfoot’s live performance in 1979.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
Mae West – I Wonder Where My Easy Rider’s Gone
An evening pause: From the 1933 film She Done Him Wrong. And yes, the young guy you see is Cary Grant. Sadly the print here is old and fuzzy, but a newer reprint is not available on line.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Aaron Copland – “The Promise of Living” from The Tender Land
An evening pause: I posted this for Thanksgiving in 2012 and 2015. Time to post again. As I wrote in 2015:
The hope of America will always live on, even when America is gone. Ordinary people want freedom, love, family, and the right to live their lives as they wish, without harming others, so they can bring in “the blessings of harvest,” whatever that harvest might be. It must be our goal to allow that to happen, and to stop those that wish to prevent it.
The promise of living
With hope and thanksgiving,,,
Stan Ridgway – Camouflage
An evening pause: Though performed live, this version is edited and dubbed with the official recording from 1986. While the song is quite good, I can’t help thinking about yesterday’s pause.
Hat tip Alex Gimarc.
Rick Beato – The Real Reason Why Music Is Getting Worse
An evening pause: His conclusions have implications far beyond music itself and on the entire worsening of our culture.
Hat tip Chris McLaughlin.
Jefferson Airplane – Crown Of Creation
An evening pause: Performed live 1968 on the Smothers Brothers television show. Nicely performed but it is still the typical self-righteous tripe from the baby boom generation.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Ferris Akel – Napping Raccoon
An evening pause: This is how many of us all feel at the end of a hard week. Music is the “Daydream” by the Lovin’ Spoonful.
Hat tip Ferris Akel, who filmed this on September 21, 2024.
Vince Gill, Gregg Allman, Zac Brown – Midnight Rider
Insider Food – How New York’s Best Bagel Shop Makes 100,000 Bagels By Hand Every Week
Lynyrd Skynyrd – T For Texas
A Climber’s Perspective – Stacking of a 490′ Self-Supporting Tower via helicopter
An evening pause: The tower is in Watts, Oklahoma. When the lineman looks to his right he is looking at the helicopter, which for the first few minutes, before it rises above the horizon, is difficult to see.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.