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Greenwood Cemetery
Brooklyn, New York
The Lions Sleep Tonight
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Monthly Archives: April 2021
Butter and Eggs
Josh Turner, barely breaking a sweat, and Toni Lindgren show off their guitar playing chops in this selection from the instrumental, “Butter and Eggs.”
More at Josh Turner Guitar
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It’s What You Leave Out That Counts…
Sarah Smallwood Parsons in another very funny sketch, where she holds nothing back. Pretty darn gutsy.
More at CharactersWelcome
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Who Wrote Shakespeare’s Plays?
This April is the 457th Anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth and I have to admit that everything I thought I knew about William Shakespeare’s life may well be wrong. My faith was recently shaken by both the film Last Will and Testament and the book North by Shakespeare. Both works posit that heresy of heresies that William Shakespeare of Stratford-Upon-Avon was not the fellow who wrote the 37 plays usually attributed to him.
For the skinny, click on the triangle or mp3 link above and listen to the story as broadcast today on the Arts Express program on WBAI FM radio and Pacifica stations across the country.
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Penny Lane
Monday morning, John, Paul, George, and Ringo. This was a video that The Beatles commissioned way back in 1967 with director Peter Goldmann, before the days of music videos.
More at The Beatles
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The Song In Every Musical That No One Likes
The very clever Sarah Smallwood Parsons sings a truth universally acknowledged, to hilarious effect.
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Thanks to YouTuber CharactersWelcome
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Statuesque
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Great Egret
Prospect Park
Brooklyn, New York
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Clonie
While It Lasts
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Magnolia tree in full bloom
Prospect Park
Brooklyn, New York
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“Our Revels Now Are Ended…”
David Threlfall’s stunning rendition of Prospero’s last speech from Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
I had never heard of Threlfall before, but with this shorter than 90 second clip, I have become an instant fan.
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Thanks to YouTuber Guardian Culture
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First Date
“Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie”
Monday Morning, Don McLean in a great re-make of “American Pie,” fifty years later. At last, all the verses again–not like the awful truncated version from Madonna. McLean is accompanied by the wonderful acapella group, Home Free. As always, not an instrument in sight; all the percussion you hear are mouth sounds from band member Adam Rupp, in the short-sleeve purple T-shirt. See here if you don’t believe it.
Once, when McLean was asked what the song meant, he replied, “It means I’ll never have to work again if I don’t want to.”
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More at Home Free
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“What Do You Expect From A Moose?”
Welcome actors June Foray and Bill Scott to the virtual studio, as they do the voices for Rocky The Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle Moose, among other characters from the classic Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon television series of the early 1960s.
Click on the image above to play the clip.
Thanks to YouTuber davidalpert
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Everyone Was Beautiful: Paul Hostovsky
I first heard poet Paul Hostovsky reading in a poetry series out of Boston called Rozzie Reads. His poems immediately struck me as funny, closely observed crafted stories, the kind you come home and tell your intimate other about.
Paul’s work for the past decades situates him in a unique position with regard to language: Hostovsky is a sign language interpreter and a Braille instructor who has been a recipient of an award from the American Association of the DeafBlind “for being a devoted friend and ambassador by promoting the interests and well-being of DeafBlind Americans.”
Click on the triangle or the mp3 link above to hear the poems as broadcast yesterday on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation.
Paul’s website is www.paulhostovsky.com and you can get his latest book, Mostly, at: https://www.amazon.com/Mostly-Paul-Hostovsky-ebook/dp/B08Z4GYRBM/
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The Eagle Has Landed
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This osprey has just come back to its nest with a bunch of extra building material to keep it nice and warm.
Marine Park Salt Marsh
Brooklyn, New York
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Home Free Drum Kit
The amazing Adam Rupp of the a capella song group Home Free provides the percussion for the singers. In this phenomenal “drum solo” he proves to the audience that there’s no drum kit up his sleeve, and that it’s all done vocally.
More at Home Free
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Chim Chim Cheree
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65th Street
Brooklyn, New York
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The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are: Part Two
Last week we brought you Part One of our interview with journalist Libby Copeland, author of The Lost Family: How DNA Testing has Upended Who We Are. We spoke about how the DNA tests offered by companies such as Ancestry and 23and me can have unintended consequences when people thought to be close biological relatives turn out to be no such thing. This week in Part Two we turn our attention to the larger societal issues including surveillance and privacy of genetic data.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear Part Two of my interview with Libby Copeland, as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
Part One can heard here:
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Sh-Boom (Life Could Be A Dream)
Monday morning: what could be. The Chords had a hit with this song in 1954. Ever-Reliable Wikipedia tells us it was the first doo-wop song to make it into the top ten of the pop charts.
Click on the image to view the video.
Thanks to YouTuber BearWalken
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Fool Us: Vitaly Beckman
I am proud to say that after watching this very effective and puzzling illusion performed by magician Vitaly Beckman, I then watched it a few more times and came to almost exactly the same conclusion as Penn and Teller.
More at Vitaly Beckman
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Birch A-Peel
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This peeling birch is providing both insects and cover for the blue jay. Did you spot it right away?
Prospect Park
Brooklyn, New York
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Tupelo Honey
Reina and Toni with the Van Morrison classic.
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More at Reina del Cid
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A Modest Proposal
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Prospect Park
Brooklyn, New York
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If I Only Had A Brain
Ray Bolger and Judy Garland, 25 years after their first meeting as The Scarecrow and Dorothy Gale from Kansas.
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Thanks to YouTuber The Vintage Archive
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The Lost Family: Part One
With TV shows like Henry Louis Gates’ Finding Your Roots, and aggressive advertising of DNA testing by companies like Ancestry.Com, millions have spit into a tube to find the names of their particular ancestors and relatives, and more generally to confirm their ethnic heritage. But these appealing tests have some far-reaching consequences that most of us have not even considered. Award-winning Washington Post reporter Libby Copeland has written about the unforeseen consequences of these genetic tests in a beautifully structured and comprehensive book called The Lost Family: How DNA is Upending Who You Are.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear Part One of my interview with Libby Copeland as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
Part two is here:
