Tag: entertainment

Hila Ben David – Avinu Malkeinu

6:01 pm

An evening pause: Though the prayer is recited every fall during services during the Ten Days of Repentance, from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur, this music is modern, originally sung by Barbara Streisand. It is fitting now both for Hanukkah and the events in Israel. Activate closed captions to read the English translation. It is a prayer asking God for forgiveness for past sins as well as renewal and mercy in the coming year.

Hat tip Judd Clark.

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Rachell Ellen Wong & Coleman Itzkoff – Hanukkah Medley

6:01 pm

An evening pause: This piece seems appropriate for the first night of Hannukkah, which celebrates the miracle of the lights during the Maccabbean revolt against religious oppression, a revolt that led to the restoration of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, part of which still stands and is called by the Wailing Wall by many Jews. The medley includes two songs, “Oh Hanukkah,” and “Al Hanisim” (Thank You For the Miracles).

It also seems appropriate today, the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, as Israel itself responds in like kind to Hamas’s own infamous sneak attack and massacre on October 7th.

Hat tip Judd Clark.

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Pentatonix – Mary, Did You Know?

6:01 pm

An evening pause: When I posted a different version of this song last year, I said this:

This song honoring Jesus I think really speaks of every child born on Earth, and how every parent should see them. As Wordsworth said, they come “trailing clouds of glory.”

Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kissed your little baby then you kissed the face of god.

Still applies, to my way of thinking. That there are people in the world that think it good to kill such things means only that those people need to be removed from human existence as quickly as possible, as they represent the worst evil anyone can conceive.

Hat tip Alton Blevins.

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Jerry Granelli Trio – Linus and Lucy

6:01 pm

An evening pause: The music from the soundtrack of the Charlie Brown television specials, with sections from “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” The man playing the drums, Jerry Granelli, is the last surviving member of the original group that played Vince Guaraldi’s music for the television show itself.

Hat tip Wayne DeVette.

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Melinda Kathleen Reese – O Come O Come Emmanuel

6:01 pm

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 think I shall always want to open the Christmas-Hannukah holiday season with it, as it speaks to both religions. And it is one magnificent song, sung here magnificently.

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Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass – A Taste Of Honey

6:01 pm

An evening pause: Performed live 1965 on the Ed Sullivan Show. Only in my latter years have I realized that this is really a Mexicon mariachi band, its music refined to appeal to a wider audience.

Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.

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John Tams – Over the hills and far away

6:01 pm

An evening pause: I’m not sure if John Tams is singing, but these are his lyrics used in the British historical television series, Sharpe, set to a traditional British song from the 18th century (hence the line “King George commands and we obey). I like this lyric however:

When Evil stalks upon the land
I’ll neither hold nor stay me hand
But fight to win a better day,
Over the hills and far away.

Hat tip Alton Blevins.

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