An evening pause: Quite hypnotic, and captures the feel for what a modern ship freighter is like, which is nothing like the romantic past. And somehow, this feels fitting to show on the anniversary of the day Columbus first touched shore in the New World in 1492. He pushed the envelope possibly more than any human has ever done, and changed human history in doing so.
Hat tip Steven Golson.
An evening pause: Performed live, 2006.
R.I.P.
I’m learning to fly
But I ain’t got wings
Coming down
Is the hardest thing.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: I posted this in 2011, with the comment, “Once again, a folksinger provides us the answer.” Keith Douglas suggested I post it again, noting that maybe they should play it at football games.
I think they already are, though sadly they don’t know it.
An evening pause: An ABBA-inspired group from Slovenia doing a very modern version of the polka. The song might be in English, but it doesn’t really matter. Yee-hah!
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An evening pause: From the youtube webpage: “On a remote island hours away from Key West lies the largest masonry structure in the Americas: Fort Jefferson. Built with 16 million bricks, but never finished, the fort served as a prison during Civil War. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, upon visiting the island, named it a National Monument, and in 1992 it became part of Dry Tortugas National Park.”
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
An evening pause: The song is by George Jones. It speaks of those who died and are remembered at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. Even though that particular war was somewhat misguided, the courage and bravery of those who fought it, and the fact that in the end it did serve to halt for a time the spread of communism and tyranny, should not be forgotten.
There’s stars of David and rosary beads
and crucifixion figurines
and flowers of all colors large and small
There’s a Boy Scout badge and a merit pin
Little American flags waving in the wind
and there’s 50,000 names carved in the wall.
Sadly, there are a lot of very wealthy athletes today who have forgotten this.
An evening pause: Who says you have to play the musical instruments that already exist? This guy decided he’d invent a few hundred of his own.
Hat tip Mike Nelson.
An evening pause: This might be a lip-synced tv performance, but they do it so well.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
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: 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.
A evening pause: It is important to remind ourselves repeatedly of the lengths that evil people will go to exert their will on innocents, merely for the sake of power.
The song, “Wake me up when September ends,” is by Green Day.
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.
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.”
