Category: The Evening Pause
A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.
Joshua Wong – The New Politics
An evening pause: Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who accurately describes this as “a mildly amusing short sci-fi film.”
My thought in watching this short film is that I have been watching and reading sci-fi movies and books about a oppressive future imposed by technology for almost sixty years. All were written as warnings of a future to avoid. Instead, it appears we have taken them all as instruction manuals.
Irene “Granny” Ryan – I’m a woman
An evening pause: For the younger audiences, Ryan played Granny Clampett on the silly 1960s TV show, The Beverly Hillbillies.
The song is fun, but I just can’t get that vision of her incompatibility with her boyfriend out of my head.
Hat tip Alton Blevins.
MetaBallStudios – Fictional spaceships by size
An evening pause: I think this video well illustrates the range of human imagination, as well as the real possibilities for the future, if we only have the courage to match.
I played this at 1.5 to increase the pace, but that’s not necessary.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
Eddie Van Halen – Eruption Guitar Solo
Bill Hammack – The Aluminum Beverage Can
An evening pause: I usually like to spread out pauses from the same artist, but this video by Bill Hammack, the engineerguy, is worth seeing, even though I posted another by Hammack only a week ago.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
By the way, I am in great need of suggestions for the evening pause. Those that have suggested before know what to do. If you haven’t made a suggestion previously and have something you want to suggest, mention this fact in the comments below (without providing the suggestion) and I will contact you with the guidelines for making suggestions.
John Branyan – The Three Little Pigs
Yodeling!
An evening pause: Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who writes,
If I understood German, I think I would enjoy this performance even more. Angela Wiedl is Bavarian, Melanie Oesch is Swiss, and Herlinde Lindner is Austrian. From what I read in the comments, each singer sings the “Erzherzog Johann Jodler” in her own country’s version of German.
Henry Mancini – Pink Panther theme
André Rieu – Nearer, My God, to Thee
An evening pause: This pause seems most appropriate, following yesterday’s pause, since this is thought to be the last thing the Titanic’s band played just before the ship sank.
We can hope this also does not become the epitaph for America, following the election.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
Engineer Guy – Building the Titantic
Canvas – The Simpsons theme song
An evening pause: About two years ago I said to Diane that I’d never seen any of The Simpsons animated TV show. Neither had she. Since then we have watched all the available episodes on DVD, covering most of the first twenty seasons.
What first impressed us about the show was how actually normal and family-oriented it was, in the beginning. It was not the “edgy” ugly portrayal of America its reputation had implied.
Over time that theme was more and more lost, though whenever the writers went back to those roots the show shined. Even so, what was most impressive was how the show managed somehow to remain fresh, for most of that time period. Except for a period around season nine, the satire and jokes remained solid for almost all of the first twenty years.
Since the last ten years have not been put on DVD, we won’t likely see them. No matter. Twenty years of The Simpsons was great, but it was more than enough.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman, who used numerous musical quotes from the series to find many great evening pauses.
Don Gibson – Woman Sensuous Woman
Andy Kaufman does Elvis Presley
Emerson Lake & Palmer – From The Beginning
George Strait – Amarillo By Morning
An evening pause:
I ain’t a dime but what I got is mine.
I’m not rich but Lord I’m free.
Hat tip to Robert Pratt of Pratt on Texas, who doesn’t know he suggested this. This song is something he plays for his guests during commercial breaks so they don’t have to listen to commercials. I decided after last Thursday’s appearance it needed to be an evening pause.
Funny or Die – This Is Why Eating Healthy Is Hard
Tuba Skinny – Yes Sir That’s My Baby
An evening pause: Performed live on Royal Street, New Orleans, April 9, 2012. Don’t you wish we could return to this kind of free world?
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
Anchor drop total failure
An evening pause: In many ways I think this represents our civilization today. I hope I am wrong.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
Ray Stevens – The Quarantine Song
An evening pause: As absurd as he portrays this situation, Stevens only captures a tiny bit of the stupidity.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
Michael Nesmith – Joanne
An evening pause: Performed live 1992. For my young readers, Nesmith was one of the Monkees, but was also a successful songwriter and performer in his own right.
Les Paul & Mary Ford – There’s no place like home
An evening pause: From the youtube page:
Les and Mary perform “There’s No Place Like Home” with some classic add libbing, especially from Les. Mary Ford was a fine guitarist in her own right and that fact is ably demonstrated here. Watch for when Les goes wild and breaks his high E string. Mary is about to punish him when… Well, watch the video. And, dig those gorgeous 1952 Gibson Les Paul guitars, heavily customized by the master himself. Trivia: Les shattered and almost lost his right arm in a 1948 car crash. Les had the doctors set his elbow at an angle so he could still play guitar but he could never again fully extend his right arm.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
Oasis – Don’t Look Back in Anger
Umbilical Brothers – The Flat
Robots playing soccer
An evening pause: This is a clip from a robot competition in 2019 of what are called “kidsized” robots. Short but entertaining, especially because it demonstrates the relative stupidity and slow incompetence of state-of-the-art robots. Future versions might someday get to the level of Terminator, but these robots show that we are fortunately nowhere that close today.
Hat tip Roland.
Natalie Merchant – Wonder
Camille and Kennerly – Metallica’s “One”
An evening pause: Very nice cover, with both women playing on the same harp. Note however that this is not live, nor are the visuals from a single performance. It appears to me that the players recorded the song in a studio, then shot themselves performing it several times at different angles. Later they edited those visuals to match the studio taping.
No matter. Very well done, and quite hypnotic.
Hat tip Phill Oltmann.
John Ford’s The Searchers
An evening pause: A very detailed look at some of the behind-the-scenes history for one of John Ford’s best westerns, The Searchers (1956), starring John Wayne.
This isn’t my favorite Ford film. I prefer My Darling Clementine (1946). Nonetheless, The Searchers is still one of the best, and this short documentary will also give you a feel for the actual American culture of the time, a culture that cared about the truth and tried to treat people with respect.
If you want to watch but save time, you can set the playing speed at 2X normal and understand everything completely.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.