OutKast – Hey Ya!

An evening pause: I am generally not a fan of hip hop, but this music video is filled with so much happiness I can’t resist it.

Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who adds, “Andre’ 3000 sings and plays all 8 parts in this video from 2003. There were so many takes from different angles, eventually exhausted, he had his last character sit down during the performance.”

The Star-Spangled Banner

An evening pause: During the 2015 Kentucky Music Educators convention in Louisville, the 500 high students in attendance would gather each night just before curfew on the balconies of the Hyatt Regency’s vast interior lobby and sing the national anthem.

I think it fitting to show this tonight, on election day. The United States will always hold the honor of being the first nation on Earth to attempt the great experiment of self-government, established by conscious choice with the creation of founding documents. For this, we will forever I think be remembered in human history, a fact for which Americans should always be proud.

Hat tip Peter Fenstermacher.

André Rieu – The Beautiful Blue Danube

An evening pause: What I think makes these performances by Rieu and his orchestra so especially appealing is that he finds musicians who are glad to show how much they enjoy playing this lovely music. He recognizes the importance of fun.

And yes, as a child of the 1960s, I cannot help listening to this music and see spaceships docking. Those of my generation will of course immediately know to what I am referring. Will anyone younger?

Hat tip Edward Thelen.

A*Teens – Halfway Around The World

An evening pause: Watching this only confirms for me a well known fact: Young people sure have more energy than they know what to do with. In this case, it is used well.

Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who adds that this “Swedish group originally formed as an ABBA tribute band (originally, they called themselves “ABBA Teens”). As they became older, they branched out into their own music selections that had nothing to do with ABBA.”

Vitas – Opera #2

An evening pause: Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who also provides an English translation of the Russian lyrics, which I think combine very well with the dark and intriguing performance.

My house has been built,
But I’m alone in it.
A door was slammed behind my back.
Autumn wind is knocking at the window,
It’s crying over me again.
It was thunderstorm last night,
So it’s foggy in the morning.
The Sun got quite cold.
Old anguishes
Are going in a long train.
Let them get together.

My house has been built,
But I’m alone in it.
A door was slammed behind my back.
Autumn wind is knocking at the window,
It’s crying over me again.
It’s my fate, I can’t
Ask my fate for anything.
I only know, how the winds
Will cry after I’ve gone.

1 56 57 58 59 60 107