An evening pause: The song should immediately be familiar, though I doubt most people today will know of the performers who wrote it.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who writes, “This performance is from 1959, an era when performers wore ties to show respect to their audience. One must wonder how performers show respect to their audience, these days–or even if it’s an issue.”
An evening pause: Granted, it is hokey 1960s television staging, but the song and performance are nice.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: What makes this music video appealing is the cartoon, which recreates the style of Hollywood’s early 1930s black & white cartoons.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
As always, I welcome suggestions for Evening Pauses. If you think you have something and have not emailed me any suggestions previously, mention in a comment that you want to suggest something. Do not post the link to the video. I will contact you myself.
An evening pause: Performed in 1957 on Cole’s short-lived television show. Originally written by George and Ira Gershwin for their 1930 Broadway musical, Girl Crazy, which also made Ginger Rogers a star.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An evening pause: Arranged for 8 (!) pianos. From the youtube webpage:
2 successive performances of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Turkish March from “Die Ruinen von Athen”, arranged by Richard Blackford for 8 pianos. Played by Gina Bachauer, Jorge Bolet, Jeanne-Marie Darré, Alicia De Larrocha, John Lill, Radu Lupu, Garrick Ohlsson and Bálint Vázsonyi at a Gargantuan Pianistic Extravaganza in London, 1974.
Please note that the 2nd performance is NOT a shredding video – these great pianists were actually playing what you hear!
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An evening pause: From the movie Topsy-Turvy (2000), Shirley Henderson, Dorothy Atkinson and Cathy Sara singing. The movie is about the creation of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado. Not surprisingly, the best scenes in the movie are the scenes where they perform songs from the operetta, such as this 2010 evening pause.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An evening pause: I usually dislike most music videos because of their cliches and fakery, preferring live performances instead. However, this 1967 Nancy Sinatra music video, from the very early days of such things, is so simple it doesn’t bother me that much. In a sense, it even highlights the music.
Hat tip t-dub.
An evening pause: Hat tip Sayomara. This pause is slightly different, and is really two-for-one. The background music is Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” but the visuals are of SpaceX’s future spaceport site at Boca Chica beach near Brownsville, Texas. Apparently someone used a drone to fly over the site and videotaped it. As Sayomara noted, this “shows how far away this site is from being usable.”
An evening pause: Performed during a wedding reception, December 2012, in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who wrote, “Pietro Mascagni’s ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ is often translated as ‘Country Ways.’ His opera departed from those of his day in that his characters were not of the nobility. He portrayed the lives and struggles of ordinary people. The performance is by the Gaetano Donizetti Symphonic Orchestra of Gessate and conducted by Pierangelo Pelucchi.”
An evening pause: As I have said before, it is very important to be silly once in awhile.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: As I return from Israel and the Middle East, this piece somehow seems appropriate, played on the Sumerian long-neck “gishgudi.”
Hat tip Sayomara.
An evening pause: I would never sit through a performance of the music played during this 1949 short film showing the power of the steam locomotive. Juxtapositioned with the powerful images of the train in motion, however, this music works splendidly. The film itself is an example of the kind of short avant garde films produced during the 1950s and 1950s, and well worth watching.
Hat tip Blair Ivey.
An evening pause: The song is Tom Waits, and is performed as part of a show put on by the group, Lady Sings it Better.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An evening pause: From the really evocative science fiction film Dark City (1998). The film ain’t perfect, but it sticks with you long after you see it.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: The song’s sentiment, that one should speak with care, I endorse heartily. One should always have the right, however, to say harsh things, if only because sometimes harsh things must be said. It is a shame that too many people in today’s culture think instead that they have the right to preemptively silence such speech, because it might offend someone.
Hat tip Joe Griffin.
An evening pause: My, does he enjoy what he is doing. From a 1960s television appearance.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
