An evening pause: The first half of this video is a great performance of Orff’s piece, written as the opening for Carmina Burana. The second half shows what I think is the closing scene from a staged performance, but has no sound and is unclear. Regardless, the first half is breath-taking, and includes English subtitles, which clearly places the context of this music in 1930s Germany.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
An evening pause: I haven’t posted this Steven Sondheim song since 2013, and I have never posted Judy Collins’ version. Here is a recent live performance.
Hat tip Joseph Griffin.
An evening pause: Time for some silliness, especially since its been two years since my last Michael Davis post.
An evening pause: From their live concert, July 2, 1977 in Oakland.
I want to especially note the flag that drapes the entire back of their stage. Twas a free time in California then. I wonder if a band would dare hang such a flag in that oppressive place now.
Hat tip Mike Nelson.
An evening pause: The reason for the band’s name I think will become obvious as you watch.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: From the Simon & Garfunkel reunion concert in Central Park on September 19, 1981.
Hat tip Joseph Griffin.
An evening pause: John Williams conducting.
To my mind, this would have also been good for Labor Day yesterday, as this music for the evil Empire of Star Wars makes an ideal anthem for the left.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An evening pause: Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who notes, “What we have here is a German group with a Mongolian name singing about a city in Russia.” And they did this in 1979, during the height of the Soviet empire.
I think this is an expression of freedom, but I’m not really sure. What I do know is that the song was a hit in Soviet Russia, and was used extensively during the 1980 Moscow Olympics. And I suppose it is a good song for Labor Day.
Link here. The numbers and details are truly horrifying:
Even before this catastrophic Labor Day weekend is factored in (more on this below), the domestic 2017 box office is in hideous shape. This year is –6.3% behind 2016 and continues to fall behind 2015, 2013, and 2012.
If you figure in inflation, those numbers are even worse. For example, in 2012 the average ticket cost $7.96. Today it is almost a full dollar more at $8.89. Yeah, things are that bad and will look even worse on Tuesday.
With no apparent faith in their own product, this is the first Labor Day in 25 years where a new title has not been released on more than 1,000 screens. Over this weekend last year, the box office hauled in nearly $130 million. This year will do about a third of that. Summer attendance is at a 25-year low. The summer box office is down a whopping –16% compared to 2016.
The author provides some cogent analysis, all of which suggests things are going to get far worse for Hollywood in the coming years. The essence of the problem comes back to the same intellectual bubble that the elitists in Washington remain trapped in: A refusal to cater to the interests of their customers.
Unfortunately, this is the times in which we live. The dominate intellectual culture today is intellectually dishonest. The public has been making choices it disagrees with, and it continues to show an utter unwillingness to honestly assess those choices and figure out why. Instead, that culture, almost entirely leftwing and liberal in make-up, has decided that such dissent can only be the work of evil racists, an absurd conclusion that only serves to alienate that bankrupt intellectual culture more from the general public that is rejecting it.
An evening pause: From American Bandstand, 1983. This is fitting because Diane and I are heading home today.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An evening pause: I find the precise dance of her fingers on the fretboard as she plays to be mesmerizing.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An evening pause: As Diane and I drive south from Glacier National Park, heading to Capital Reef, this travel song somehow seems appropriate.
Hat tip Tim Vogel, who adds that the hat tip should really go “to my mother who keeps playing this for my young kids.”
An evening pause: A beautiful performance on the piano of this “Explosions in the Sky” musical piece.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: The only member of Steely Dan playing here appears to be Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, playing lead guitar. The others include Kipp Lennon on vocals, Nathan East on bass, and CJ Vanston on keys.
Hat tip Joseph Griffin.
An evening pause: Though this song has nothing to do with it, the lyrics to me somehow fit with today’s eclipse.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: From Peer Gynt, and a nice way to end the week, with a bang.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An evening pause: Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who correctly adds that “it is hard to believe that this is real. ” Sadly, I cannot credit the performer, as the youtube webpage provides no information.
An evening pause: I haven’t posted anything by this group since 2012. Time for another, this time about a war between the bees and the bees.
An evening pause: Performed live 1974. The center singer, Glodean James, was married to Barry White at the time.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who writes, “The tarantella is an uplifting folk dance music popular in many regions of Italy. Each region with its own version. This performance is of a tarantella from the Naples area. … Maestro Antonio Casolaro is on the mandolin. Francesco Polito on guitar.”
An evening pause: Music is Evergreen by Coldplay. Stick with this, it is worth it.
Hat tip Joseph Griffin.
