Update Sept. 9/08: Go here if you are interested in signing and sending a petition to the powers that be protesting against the unwarranted arrests of journalists during the Republican National Convention.
Fun and Games at the Republican National Convention (Violent flower protester pepper-sprayed...twice...once in the face, once in the back...)
This is just one small example of the police/authoritarian lunacy that's been going on in Minneapolis. Meanwhile, the members of the Fifth Estate are doing one of two things: either sleeping at the wheel or being arrested. Check out here and here.
Performed by Nick Ariondo at the MET Theatre, Hollywood, November, 2006. Maestro Nick Ariondo, concert accordionist arranged the famous "Aufforderung Zum Tanz"(Invitation to the Dance)by Carl Maria von Weber.
The Dresden Cabaret performed to sold out audiences, needing to extend. Produced by Christina Linhardt and the Max Kade Institute for German- Austrian-Swiss Studies, USC. Sponsored in part by Bitburger Beer.
This video blew me away. These two British geezers were instrumental in the development and marketing of the Mellotron? Unbelievable!
This was the instrument (or one of them, at least) that revolutionized the sound of music in the 70s. The Beatles used one. Moody Blues built their sound around one. Rick Wakeman & Yes. Strawbs. Pink Floyd. The list is endless. I mean, even Bob Seger used one!
And it was these two guys?
On the other hand...watch the video. I don't believe I ever heard anyone use a Mellotron the way these two guys envisioned it. I never knew Mellotrons had separate rhythm sections and one-finger accompaniment. In those days, that must have been completely unheard of. Or maybe not...I remember seeing and hearing a Lowry organ, one of those big home console models that did the automatic rhythm accompaniment thing in the mid-70s.
But those two geezers?
Now that I think about it...maybe there's still hope...for all us geezers...
I found this on Facebook. Over the years we've heard lots of ways to deal with telemarketers, (think of the Seinfeld technique) but this is one of the funniest by far.
The interesting thing is, he spent more time on the phone with this guy than if he'd actually sat and listened to the pitch. But then again, he probably had way more fun too.
Larry just joined a Yahoo group for accordion players, which led him to this video from the Tejano Music Awards.
(Larry has temporarily adopted the third person, cuz who wants to admit he joined an accordion Yahoo group?)
Check out this video. The accordion player must have listened to every Flaco Jimenez recording ever made. A good player...in that style. Larry thinks the gloves with the swoosh are a bit much though. Maybe he was nervous about being on TV? Cold in the theatre?
Larry doesn't know what to make of the choreography. The audience seems to like it.
The performer's name is Eddie Gonzales, who Larry assumes is the singer. Accordion player unknown.
The Oakland band Tower of Power funked into Lunchbucket last night and played the Square Circle. It was, by all accounts, a fabulous show. There are fewer tighter bands on the whole planet. And Tower of Power is possibly the best soul band there is. Now that James Brown has passed on. The TOP horns are legendary and showed why. Roger Smith, the keyboardist, gave a master class in the course of several burning solos. And David Garibaldi, the drummer, was just rock solid and funky all night.
Here's a video of TOP, doing their first and maybe best-known hit, "What Is Hip?" To give you an idea what the band's like. No, it's not from the Lunchbucket show. There are some additions to the band in this video. Carlos Santana was not with the band in Lunchbucket.
And one other piece of not-so-trivia. There is a very brief view of Michael Bogart, the lead trumpet, in this video. His house burned down yesterday in the California fires. Can you imagine having that happen? While you're on the road? And he still played the show last night, and blew all the horn players (of which there were quite a few) in the audience away.
Update 10/23/07: I had to change the video because the one I originally put in here suddenly became no longer available. (Actually, I think it's the same show, but I didn't pay close enough attention to be sure...)
It's been a long time since I posted. Busy. But I noticed this in my surfing. The first part is a discussion of the award to be presented to the Dalai Lama by the US Congress, and the President's intention to attend this presentation over Chinese objections.
Suzy Homemaker and I listened to this last night. A hit in the late 80s from a band called Les Négresses Vertes. This comes from their first album called Mlah. It seemed appropriate to put this ode to summer up on Labour Day weekend.
This video comes courtesy of grandtheftcountry. In this, our lovely Internet age, we wonders, yes we does, whether people/politicians/public figures are suffering from some sort of deficiency (as a learned friend of mine is wont to say.) Surely they must know that their words and actions are recorded and observed and then splashed all over electronic cyberspace. (Surely I know that my words and actions here achieve some sort of immortality, ethereal as it is...)
What changed Cheney's mind between 94 and 02? Did he, perhaps, have a lobotomy we don't know about? All I know is, the word "quagmire" was on every thinking person's lips long before George W sang "Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to war we go!" with Mr. Charm Cheney prodding and poor foolish politically inept Colin Powell enabling.
Mr. Cheney, take your gingko pills faithfully. It might keep you out of the quagmire some day.
I heard a good portion of this lecture on Mothercorp last week. Quite fascinating. Biology and physics. Not much of the anti-god stuff. I include it here because I am so glad to have found it through Digg. I was seriously considering ordering the recording from Mothercorp. And I still might. This video is 23 minutes long. The Mothercorp program was 60 minutes (which included some questions at the end.) Maybe Dawkins has more than one version of the lecture.
I am the altered ego of He-Who-Shall-Remain-Nameless, currently serving a seven year term at the Yoni School for Wayward Poets. I was charged and convicted of phelonious misspelling and operating without a poetic license.
