04 Saturday Apr 2020
Posted in Music, Performance, Theatre
Tags
dance, Jumpin' Jive, music, NIcholas Brothers, Stormy Weather, tap
Mikhail Baryshnikov called the Nicholas Brothers the greatest dancers he had ever seen in his life. Fred Astaire called the dance number in the clip above the greatest musical dance sequence ever captured on film. Who am I to argue?
Cab Calloway starts off the madness singing “Jumpin Jive” from the film Stormy Weather.
Thanks to YouTuber laughland
02 Thursday Apr 2020
Posted in Life, Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Del-Satins, Dion, doo-wop, music, rock and roll, Runaround Sue, song, songwriting
By 1961, Dion had ditched the Belmonts, for the somewhat longer-in-the-tooth Del-Satins. Fans may remember that it was in Dion’s number one hit song for that year that Mr. DiMucci delivered to us the explosive, shocking, world-shaking news headline that Runaround Sue, “Goes out with other guys!”
More at Dion
30 Monday Mar 2020
Posted in Life, Music, Performance
Monday morning, the MonaLisa Twins worry about the last time. Mona on lead, ergo, Lisa on the harmonies.
More at MonaLisa Twins
27 Friday Mar 2020
Posted in Music, Performance
Tags
Bunny Briggs, Buster Brown, dance, dancers, Gregory Hines, Jimmy Slyde, music, performance, Sandman Sims, tap dance, tap dancing
Feeling tapped out these days? Not Gregory Hines, Bunny Briggs, Jimmy Slyde, Buster Brown, or Sandman Sims, five of the masters of American tap dance. This one is lots of fun.
Thanks to YouTuber Mercedes Barker
25 Wednesday Mar 2020
Posted in Life, Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Crying, music, performance, pop, Roy Orbison, song, songwriting
And you may notice Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, kd lang, and Bonnie Raitt accompanying.
More at RoyOrbison
23 Monday Mar 2020
Posted in Life, Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
disco, film, John Travolta, Karen Gorney, music, Night Fever, performance, Saturday Night Fever, song, songwriting, soundtrack, The Bee Gees
Monday morning, you look out the window at the empty streets and think of times when the Night Fever meant something else…
Thanks to YouTuber HD Film Tributes
20 Friday Mar 2020
Posted in Life, Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Fast Car, folk, music, performance, pop, songwriting, soul, Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman was an unlikely singer/songwriter to chart in the top 10 in 1988, but there was something so pure, authentic, and truthful in her singing that this song resonated with many and, improbably, became a hit.
Thanks to YouTuber Folk & Country on MV
16 Monday Mar 2020
Posted in Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Linda Ronstadt, Motown, music, performance, pop, Smokey Robinson, song, songwriting, soul
Monday morning, Linda Ronstadt, in the prime of her career, with Tracks of My Tears, yet another great Smokey Robinson penned song.
More at Linda Ronstadt
12 Thursday Mar 2020
Posted in Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Mary Wells, Motown, music, My Guy, performance, rock, song, soul
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Mary Wells performing her 1964 hit, the first solo female hit for Motown. Smokey Robinson was the writer. She knocked The Beatles out of first place on the May 1964 charts.
Thanks to YouTuber Smurfstools Music Time Machine
08 Sunday Mar 2020
Posted in Life, Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Monday morning, Dion Di Mucci with The Belmonts, the very definition of doo-wop.
More at Dion
06 Friday Mar 2020
Posted in Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Everly Brothers, guitar, music, performance, pop, Reina del Cid, song, songwriting, Toni Lindgren
Reina del Cid and Toni Lindgren sing the Everly Brothers classic. With Toni nailing the electric guitar parts and the harmonies, this is one I listen to several times in a row.
More at Reina del Cid
02 Monday Mar 2020
Posted in Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Can't Buy Me Love, John Lennon, MonaLisa Twins, music, Paul McCartney, performance, pop, rock, song, The Beatles
March’s first Monday morning, the MonaLisa Twins from Austria check in with some Lennon-McCartney philosophy.
More at MonaLisa Twins
29 Saturday Feb 2020
Posted in Life, Music, Performance
An extraordinary dance made more amazing by the fact that the dancers are deaf and the musicians visually impaired.
Thanks to YouTuber CCTV English
27 Thursday Feb 2020
Posted in Life, Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Deportees, Joan Baez, music, performance, song, Woody Guthrie
***
Woody Guthrie wrote it over 70 years ago, and Joan Baez sung this version about 30 years later. And it’s still more relevant and haunting than ever.
Thanks to YouTuber Scout4Me1
24 Monday Feb 2020
Posted in Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Dick Clark, Jimmy Mack, Martha and the Vandellas, Motown, music, performance, pop, song, soul
Monday Morning, Martha and the Vandellas put out the call.
Why Berry Gordy named the group The Vandellas seems to be a mystery, but they charted 26 hits in just nine years.
Thanks to YouTuber SuperCanopus
20 Thursday Feb 2020
Tags
Kissing Other People, Lennon Stella, music, performance, pop, song
I was at a dance theatre concert the other day, and this was one of the songs they danced to in the program. I thought it was a cute pop song, and the accompanying official video by Lennon Stella even more cute.
More at Lennon Stella
10 Monday Feb 2020
Posted in Life, Performance
Tags
Cupid, music, performance, Sam Cooke, song, The Spinners, Valentime's Day
Monday morning, an early Valentine’s Day song.
Sam Cooke’s “Cupid” had been covered by many artists but it was this 1980 version by The Spinners that scored in the Top Ten. (And imagine having not one but five of those powder blue suits in your closet!) Lead singer John Edwards does right by Sam Cooke, and the producers left in and enhanced Cooke’s idea of having the sound of Cupid’s arrow flying. Be sure to stay to the end to hear that last note.
More at The Spinners – Topic
09 Sunday Feb 2020
Posted in Comedy, Life, Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
1958, Burt Lancaster, comedy, Kirk Douglas, music, performance, song, The Oscars
Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lancaster at the 1958 Oscars with some good humor.
Thanks to YouTuber Oscars
06 Thursday Feb 2020
Posted in Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Henry Mancini, JOhnny Mercer, Moon River, music, performance, Reina del Cid, song, Toni Lindgren
A perfect song for Reina del Cid’s voice, with some nice guitar accompaniment by Toni Lindgren.
More at Reina del Cid
03 Monday Feb 2020
Posted in Music, Performance, Writing
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” ‘Cause lately I’ve been losing sleep”
Monday morning, Levi Stubbs and the Four Tops in a TV performance of one of their classics. I thought it was fun to see them so uncharacteristically casually dressed, quite unusual for Motown performers of the period.
Thanks to YouTuber Irma0815007
30 Thursday Jan 2020
Posted in Comedy, Life, Music, Performance, Writing
“Pencils come from Pennsylvania…”
Blossom Dearie states some State facts that won’t get you on Jeopardy. From the song, “Rhode Island Is Famous For You.”
The clever lyrics are by Howard Dietz who also wrote “That’s Entertainment.”
Thanks to YouTuber 65yb74
27 Monday Jan 2020
Posted in Comedy, Life, Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Faith Petric, music, performance, politics, song, songwriting, You Ain't Been Doing Nothing If You Ain't Been Called a Red
Monday morning, 96 year old Faith Petric’s song gets you out of bed.
Thanks to YouTuber wooac videos
23 Thursday Jan 2020
Posted in Life, Music, Performance
Tags
Dusty Springfield gender-flipped the Classic IV’s original version of this song to produce her own 1970 classic.
Thanks to YouTuber gferdinandus
20 Monday Jan 2020
Posted in Life, Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, Do You Know The Way To San Jose?, Hal David, music, performance, song, songwriting
Monday morning, Dionne Warwick contemplates chucking it all and heading home.
It’s hard to choose from all the great Burt Bacharach/Hal David/Dionne Warwick collaborations, but I always appreciated Hal David’s storyline in this one—I can’t think of any other pop song with a similar theme.
17 Friday Jan 2020
Posted in Life, Music, Performance, Writing
Tags
Crosby Stills and Nash, guitar, Josh Turner, Judy Collins, music, Myles Pinder, performance, song, songwriting, Steve Stills, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, Tanner Walter
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When Steve Stills sung this paean to his about-to-be-ex, Judy Collins, it was one of the most audacious and brilliant love songs from a 60s folk rock band. This cover, by Josh Turner on six string guitar, Tanner Walter on 12 string guitar and Myles Pinder on the high parts, is frighteningly good.
More at Josh Turner Guitar
