A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.
A evening pause: This song seems fitting on this, the anniversary of the day Neil Armstrong took the first human step on the Moon. The song however honors Mike Collins, who remained in orbit on Columbia, never to touch the surface of the Moon itself.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
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.”
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.
An evening pause: From Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway musical Cats, based on poems by T.S. Eliot.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
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.
An evening pause: Performed live 2022 during an all-Russian musical ethnic festival.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
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.
An evening pause: Performed live, 2008. Their singing makes you listen to the words.
Hat tip Doug Johnson.
An evening pause: Definitely not Perry Mason, though certainly inspired by him.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
