The Cactus Cuties – The National Anthem
An evening pause: Performed live, 2008. Their singing makes you listen to the words.
Hat tip Doug Johnson.
Category: The Evening Pause
A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.
Dude Dad – If Toddlers Had Lawyers
An evening pause: Definitely not Perry Mason, though certainly inspired by him.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
TheDailyWoo -The Day The Music Died
An evening pause: Retracing the moments leading to the airplane crash that killed Buddy Holly , the Big Bopper and Richie Valens. For pictures of the memorial items left by others at the crash site, go here.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
Voices of Music: Andante from Bach’s Flute Sonata in E Minor
The Highwaymen – Ghost Riders In the Sky
Barcelona Gipsy balKan Orchestra – Amarisi
An evening pause: It is interesting to me how similar gypsy music is to Jewish kelzmer music from Eastern Europe.
Hat tip Judd Clark, who adds “She’s got that glow.”
Remember Monday – Fat Bottomed Girls
Tiny Tim’s first appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
An evening pause: Aired live April 4, 1968. This important moment in time not only illustrates the incredible tolerant and eccentric nature of 1960s culture, it shows us Johnny Carson at his best. He recognizes the eccentricity of his guest, uses it for humor, but then is also sincerely willing to interview Tim and let him express himself. As always, Carson is kind to his guest, which is one of the reasons his audience loved him so much.
Carson also recognized that Tiny Tim’s eccentricity was great entertainment (something Tim recognized himself quite clearly), which is why Carson allowed the appearance to go so long. It was good show business.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Geoff Castellucci – Sixteen Tons
Simon & Garfunkel – The Sound of Silence
An evening pause: I’ve posted several covers of this great song by other artists, as well as a different and earlier reunion performance by Simon & Garfunkel (which is no longer available). Here they are again, because the originals are always the best.
Hat tip Doug Johnson.
Steve Martin – King Tut
John Williams – Imperial March
An evening pause: What is most important about this performance is that Williams was doing the conducting on his 90th birthday. The only sour note of this performance is the idiotic masks they made some members of the orchestra wear. Obviously, a horn player can’t give anyone an infection, but a violin player can. Note too how all the VIPs on the front of the stage (such as Steven Spielberg) were also immune from COVID and didn’t need masks either. What fools and hypocrites.
Hat tip Phil Berardelli.
Kevin Stone – Life Size Steel Dragon
Ally Venable – One Side Understanding
Hank Williams – Cold Cold Heart
Celine Dion & Josh Groban – The Prayer
An evening pause: Performed live I think in 2009. Normally I would start the embed at the beginning of the song, but I think the story Dion tells at the beginning is worth hearing to gain some context. It also serves to explain Groban’s comments at the end.
Hat tip Doug Johnson.
Forgotten Weapons – Girardoni Air Gun
An evening pause: The air rifle that Lewis & Clark took on their expedition to impress the American Indians they met. When I recently read their memoirs, I was baffled that an air gun existed in the early 1800s. This video shows it in detail, noting that it was actually invented in 1780 for the Austrian Army.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Zac Brown Band – Knee Deep
An evening pause: Performed live in 2022.
I heard this song on the radio and was astonished because it actually didn’t overload the sound with a typical rock instrumentation so that it was no longer a country tune but a simply rock song with the singer having a western accent. Instead it is simple and clear and a pleasure to listen to, partly because it doesn’t sound like every other pop song played these days.
It also makes a great song to start the weekend.
Abbott & Costello – Modern Math
An evening pause: From their 1941 movie, In the Navy.
Hat tip sippin_bourbon, who “actually re-enacted this for a few classmates in 7th grade, then walked out
while they scratched their heads. The teacher, who had been watching caught me in the way out the door and told me not to do that on a test.” Sadly, a modern teacher today might consider this good math.
Morgan James – Dream On
Heart – Crazy on You
An evening pause: I posted this same song in 2022 from a different performance during the same 1977 tour. This version however was recorded as part of a documentary and includes some backstage footage that is definitely worth watching.
Has tip Rex Ridenoure, who notes that “Heart was the first rock band with female leads who also wrote all their own songs.”
Dean Martin – That’s Amore
An evening pause: Performed live on television 1965. A great song to start the week.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
America’s Iron Giants – The World’s Most Powerful Metalworkers
An evening pause: Heavy tech (literally) that makes everything go, was built with slide-rules and pencils — in feet, inches, ounces, and pounds — and still operates.
Hat tip Mike Nelson.
Clara Cernat & Thierry Huillet – Porumbescu Balada
Bob Lind – Elusive Butterfly
Ray Bolger & Judy Garland – If I Only Had a Brain
An evening pause: From the 1939 MGM classic, The Wizard of Oz, when Hollywood still made films in which the witches were the bad guys, not the heroes.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Sinking the Bismarck
An evening pause: For Memorial Day, let’s have some history recounting one of the most important Atlantic naval battles of World War II, which took place 82 years ago this weekend. If the Bismarck had been successful in getting out into the Atlantic to attack convoys, Great Britain could very well have been starved into submission.
Hat tip Mike Nelson, who adds, “The ravages of WWII have faded from memory but we should never forget. Too many paid the price for the freedoms we so blithely take for granted.”
How 500 horses get to Mackinac Island each spring
An evening pause: As noted at this website:
The island was America’s second national park (after Yellowstone National Park) for 20 years and has been the state of Michigan’s first state park. The island has had a ban on automobiles since the earliest days and still has the only highway in the nation where cars are banned.
Apparently, during the winter the horses are taken to the mainland for their benefit, and then returned in the spring in preparation for the summer tourism season. As this is the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, the start of the summer season, this seems most appropriate for tonight.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
Blue Man Group – Drumbone
An evening pause: Performed live 2010. Makes a nice contrast to the Bach dulcimer pause two days ago.
Hat tip Judd Clark.