Tag: entertainment
Merle Haggard – Okie From Muskogee
An evening pause: Someone who did not live through the 1960s cannot imagine the violent reactions to this song when it came out in 1969. It was either loved or hated, expressing the polarization of the times. Sadly, not much has changed in half a century, other than the poles have grown farther apart, with the side Haggard is gently criticizing here so filled with hate that it would not surprise me if they would to try to prevent the song’s performance if someone wanted to sing it on a college campus today.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman, in honor of Merle Haggard’s passing last week.
Imogen Heap – Just For Now
An evening pause: I challenge anyone to tell me what the lyrics in this piece are about. In fact, don’t bother, because the meaning of the words is really irrelevant. The focus is on the sound of the words, and that sound is really really good.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Pink Floyd – Julia Dream
Anne Sofie von Otter & Stéphanie d’Oustrac – Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour
An evenig pause: From Jacques Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman. Performed live in Paris, 2001, conducted by Marc Minkowski.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Evanescence – Going Under
An evening pause: Some modern music, to remind us that there is a culture out there that is very different than the tiny geek-oriented engineering world my readers like. In watching this very nicely produced music video, I was most struck by the vision the singer has of her audience. I wonder thus what her audience thinks of her and themselves, especially when this video has been viewed almost 70 million times.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
John Prine – Sabu Visits The Twin Cities Alone
Rod Stewart – Moonglow
The Ronettes – Be My Baby
An evening pause: Performed live on the television show Shindig!, August 11, 1965. Be sure to read the notes about this song and group at the youtube link.
Hat tip Rocco.
Guy Clark with Karen Matheson – Dublin Blues
Count Basie- Flight of the Foo Birds
It’s the Beatles
An evening pause: Broadcast on December 7, 1963 by the BBC, this excerpt from the 30 minute television show before 2,500 members of The Beatles’ Northern Area Fan Club gives us a glimpse into the craziness that heralded the Beatles arrival on the world scene. The clip includes the last third of the show.
Why do these teenage girls remind me of modern voters attending rallies for Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders?
Hat tip Rocco.
Eddie Reader – Dragonfly
An evening pause: Eddi Reader is one of my favorite singers. This song mixes Celtic, English, Irish, Italian, and even some Greek folk styles.
As soon as we are here, we disappear, like a dragonfly.
“Have they tried SEC to Aux?”
An evening pause: From one of the best dramatic series ever produced of the 1960s space race, From the Earth to the Moon (1998), this is the Apollo 12 launch scene.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Wintergatan – Marble Machine
An evening pause: The video describing how they built this is as interesting to watch.
Hat tips to Tom Biggar and Karla Zajac.
Grace Slick & Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
High Diving Giraffes
An evening pause: Based on some emails I have received, I think some people have been fooled by this cool animation and actually think these are real giraffes! This just tells us that it will not be long now before real actors are no longer necessary and it will be possible to do live action films entirely with animation.
Hat tip George Petricko.
Jeremy Schonfeld & Deborah Cox – Somewhere Out There
An evening pause: From the film An American Tale (1986) and composed by James Horner (who is the guy they show periodically watching in the audience).
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Gaelynn Lea – Someday we’ll linger in the sun
An evening pause: This starts slow, but stick with it. The music and song are haunting and quite beautiful, as is the performance.
Hat tip Elbo Altins.
The Kingsmen – Louie Louie
An evening pause: Normally I don’t post videos with no visuals, but for this I will make an exception. It is probably the first time anyone has ever done the hard work necessary to translate the mumblings of the singer to find out the lyrics of this pop tune. Before now, who knew?
Hat tip Phil Berardelli.
Victor Borge – Getting ready
Wally Eastwood – Piano Juggler
Al Bowlly – Melancholy Baby
An evening pause: Even though it is more seven decades since this was recorded, it remains as fresh and as vibrant as anything sung today. Almost more so because of its simplicity. Bowlly was a big name singer in the 1930s, and he shows why here.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Steve Martin – The Great Flydini
An evening pause: The silliness couldn’t be greater.
Hat tip Peter Fenstermacher.
As always, I welcome suggestions from anyone for evening pauses. If you have made them before, please feel free to send me more. You know how to reach me. If you’ve never suggested any but want to, comment here (without including the suggestion-that would give it away) and I will contact you myself.
MozART Group – Wild, wild West
An evening pause: A gently humorous tribute to American music. Hat tip Dick Jones, courtesy of Diane Zimmerman.
Cam – Can’t Help Falling In Love
An evening pause: I’ve posted the original version by Elvis Presley from the movie Blue Hawaii (1961) back in 2013, but this live version,live at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on January 8, 2016, is definitely worth seeing. She dedicated the song to her fiancé, Adam Weaver, and during the performance it is obvious that she is singing directly to him in the audience.
I also dare you to watch it without singing along.
Hat tip Edward Thelen from reminding me that this song needs a revisit.
John Denver & Cass Elliot – Leaving on a jetplane
An evening pause: Performed live August 19, 1972 on The Midnight Special. As one commenter noted on the youtube webpage, “This really happened right?” Sadly, as Danae noted to me in an email, both are now gone, far too soon.
Lou Rawls – You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine
The first music video in zero gravity
Update: The music video itself has been pulled from youtube for copyright reasons that I don’t quite understand. However, the making of video is still available, and that will give you a pretty good feel for some of the stuff in the original piece.
I was going to make this an evening pause, but then decided it shouldn’t wait. This music video, by OK-Go, is unique and somewhat historic, as it I think is the first to have been done in zero gravity, using an airplane to fly parabolic arcs. It demonstrates clearly the fantastic and as present almost unimaginable possibilities of dance in weightlessness, as it also might be the first time that professional dancers, the two women, are given a chance to do moves in microgravity.
Be sure to also watch the making of video below the fold. And go here for the story behind the video.
Update: The music video itself has been pulled from youtube for copyright reasons that I don’t quite understand. However, the making of video is still available, and that will give you a pretty good feel for some of the stuff in the original piece.
I was going to make this an evening pause, but then decided it shouldn’t wait. This music video, by OK-Go, is unique and somewhat historic, as it I think is the first to have been done in zero gravity, using an airplane to fly parabolic arcs. It demonstrates clearly the fantastic and as present almost unimaginable possibilities of dance in weightlessness, as it also might be the first time that professional dancers, the two women, are given a chance to do moves in microgravity.
Be sure to also watch the making of video below the fold. And go here for the story behind the video.
England Dan and John Ford Coley – I’d Really Love to See You Tonight
An evening pause: Another nice song performed live on the 1970s television show The Midnight Special..
Hat tip Danae.