Category: The Evening Pause
A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.
Graham Mackenzie – Josh’s Jigs
Fatoumata Diawara – Nterini
An evening pause: Diawara grew up in Mali but at eighteen went to France to become an actor and performer.
Hat tip to Tom Donohue, who correctly adds, “Interesting mix of music cultures.”
Chase Hiller – Skateboarding down a mountain in Columbia
An evening pause: For the weekend, some recreational activity. There are two or three cuts, but in general he makes the whole run non-stop. If you want to get your palms sweating play some of this at 2x normal speed. The location is in San Felix, Columbia.
Hat tip Tom Wilson.
The Turtles – Happy Together
Elaine Paige – Memory
An evening pause: From Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway musical Cats, based on poems by T.S. Eliot.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Top Secret Corp Band vs Royal Marines Corp Band
An evening pause: This is called a battle of the drum bands, but in truth this particular performance demonstrates their ability to merge their talents into one grand show.
Hat tip Phil Berardelli.
Otta orchestra – Shades of Red
An evening pause: Performed live 2022 during an all-Russian musical ethnic festival.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Self Sufficient Me – 10 Reasons Why NOT to Keep Ducks
Isabel Martínez – Capricho árabe
Duane Eddy – Rebel Rouser
An evening pause: As the first comment on the youtube page notes, “Before there was Duelin’ Banjos, there were Duane Eddy and his great sax player going back and forth.”
Hat tip Dave McCooey.
UPDATE: The first version I had embedded was removed by Youtube between the time I scheduled it and tonight. The version below is just as good.
The Cactus Cuties – The National Anthem
An evening pause: Performed live, 2008. Their singing makes you listen to the words.
Hat tip Doug Johnson.
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.