Looking at love from a few different angles for Valentine’s Day:
One of the greatest videos ever made, and certainly one of the funniest, with several cameo appearances including William Shatner and Jason Alexander, Brad Paisley explores computer romance in Online!:
Weird Al Yankovic spares no expense for his sweetheart in his funny take on T.I.’s Whatever You Like:
Guys are so stupid! Here’s one of my favorite clips from Dumb and Dumber where Jim Carrey demonstrates how guys think when it comes to love:
It’s finally here! Fifty years ago the United States, and since the U.S. considers itself the center of the universe, the world was visually introduced to The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. Seventy-three million people were exposed to what England had seen for the previous two years, and fell in love.
It wasn’t supposed to happen that way. Many viewers tuned in to witness a musical farce or to see the band fall flat on its face. Who doesn’t slow down at a traffic accident and gawk or at least sneak a peek. The hype had been there for the past month as I Want to Hold Your Hand rose to #1. Who were these guys usurping our record charts?
I was a witness and remember comments from my family about their long hair. (Really? Look at the haircuts. They were just touching the ears!) Someone said that John Lennon resembled a “singing golf ball with hair.”(??!!) And, of course, there were plenty of comments about the crazy screaming girls in the audience. (“What are they screaming about? They can’t even hear the music!”)
I can honestly say that I wasn’t totally won over by The Beatles from that first appearance. Even as a child, I was skeptical. I think it was my unfamiliarity with some of the music. That soon changed. But I returned the following weeks to witness those incredible moments. And man, Ringo Starr could sure rock those cymbals–and drums! But I stayed well clear of the ongoing discussion among the girls on who was cuter: John Lennon or Paul McCartney? That was so annoying! I just wished I didn’t have to hear it!
And when I visited New York City in 1985, before the age of home-owned video tapes, I went to the Museum of Television and Radio (now known as The Paley Center for Media). The first thing I wanted to see was that first Ed Sullivan appearance. I wasn’t the only one.I found out that that show was the number one requested viewing item. It seems everyone wanted to relive those magical moments when The Beatles changed the world!
Nowadays, I can just post it on my blog. What a wonderful world!:
A fun…and kind of twisted video from Jillian Rae‘s wonderful new album. The title track called Heartbeat kicks off this Pre-Show Fun!:
Another early front runner for best of the year, also from Minnesota is from a multi -faceted band, Fathom Lane, doing Sugardown!:
And sadly, Pete Seeger, passed away but left a ton of music videos. Pretty good for a guy who was once blacklisted! Here is one of my favorite songs–of many, What Did You Learn in School?:
We should have known just how bad this winter was going to be with the first winter storm of January, Hercules. Here, the very funny–and very cute, Ali Spagnola gives her slightly warped take on “I’m Hooking Up With Winter Storm Hercules”:
Wild Ponies (Telisha Williams, Doug Williams, and Jake Winebrenner) are coming to The Ark in Ann Arbor, MI, on February 13th. Here they perform “Trouble Looks Good on You” in much warmer times. Oh, if we could only have some of that now! Anyway, I like the sultry vocals and the way that drummer Jake has his wallet strategically placed on his snare drum!:
And to really get silly, Ringo Starr made an “appearance” on The Powerpuff Girls last week. Here is the all too cute “I Want to Be a Powerpuff Girl!”:
It’s another below zero morning around here in Dearborn, Michigan, and I know other people have it even worse than I do. So let’s warm up with some “hot” videos!
Here’s one that’s so hot it hasn’t even been released yet! The Steel Wheels song is called “Winter Is Coming.” They’re a little “late” for that, but they are coming to The Ark in Ann Arbor, MI for a show on February 14th. But maybe you can get your tickets “early!’:
During the holidays, you may have been too busy to see this little gem, Thrashing Through the Snow, from Dave Mustaine and Megadeth, and Jenny Lewis on Jimmy Kimmel Live! This will melt some snow:
I saw this video from Warren Brown & Adam Goddard, (one of the Big Block videos), on the Disney Channel last week with my teenage daughter. I’ve been torturing her by making up stupid lines ever since!:
One of the first organized protest against the living conditions in South Africa came from Artists United Against Apartheid. An idea put into practice by Little Steven Van Zandt focused attention on the plight and disparity between the rich and poor in South Africa. It certainly helped that high profile contributors like Bruce Springsteen, Bono, and Lou Reed added their talents:
The song that most people know from Paul Simon’s Graceland, one of the greatest albums ever recorded, is You Can Call Me Al. There was an awful video that was originally released, but the song really took off when Paul got his buddy Chevy Chase to do a silly video that emphasizes the wide variation in height between the two performers. Talk about a real life “Mutt and Jeff!:
And right around the time that Nelson Mandela was released from prison and rose to lead South Africa, Disney had begun work on their first original story release, The Lion King, which featured African themes. “Hakuna Matata” is probably the best known African phrase known worldwide because of the song:
Here it is, the list you’ve all been waiting for! There was just so much good music in 2013 it was hard for me to pare down the selections, so here are my top 60 of the year. What were your favs? I really do hate to stack them because each song is great on its own and whenever I’m listening to each one of these, it’s my favorite song at that time!
Best Songs of 2013
1. Falling—Joanie Leeds & The Nightlights
2. Tu Mochila Esta Abierta—The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy
3. Be My Baby—Hey Ocean!
4. Trawler Man—Skinny Lister
5. New—Paul McCartney
6. Riven Man—Crime & The City Solution
7. Midnight Creeper—Kevin Selfe
8. Red Dress—Matthew Morgan & The Lost Brigade
9. False Information–Mick Clarke
10. Baker’s Boy—Norah Jane Struthers & The Party Line
11. Send Me Back to Earth—Dylan McDonald & The Avians
12. Another Day—Thorcraft Cobra
13. Summer Moon—Patrick Davy & The Ghosts
14. Merry Go Round—Kacey Musgraves
15. Grow Back New–Strawberry Heritage
16. Begin Again—Taylor Swift
17. Little Cloud—Joanie Leeds & The Nightlights
18. Unbreak My Heart—Stella!
19. Tip It on Back—Dierks Bentley
20. Long Time Gone—Billie Jo + Norah
21. Don’t Stop the Party—Pitbull with TJR
22. Venice—Lyn Saga
23. All the Time in the World—Deep Purple
24. I Grow Tired–Tom Selleck’s Moustache
25. Orion–Cornell Kinderknecht and Martin McCall
26. Alarm Clock Blues—Rusty Wright
27. Highway Don’t Care—Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, & Keith Urban
28. Glass Bottom Boat—Jason Didner and The Jungle Gym Jam
29. Everybody Out There—Paul McCartney
30. Blame–Rock & Roll Monkey & The Robots
31. Goddess—Crime & The City Solution
32. Dark Summer—The Dan Sheehan Conspiracy
33. 22—Taylor Swift
34. Loosen Up!—RB Stone
35. The Cat—Jeff Golub & Brian Auger
36. Caught Up—Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas
37. A Hard Days Night—Danax
38. Palmas Sinfonia—Sultans of String
39. Detour—Jerry Miller with Roy Sludge
40. All Over the Road—Easton Corbin
41. Thrift Shop—Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz
42. Fossil Fuel—Roy Scoutz
43. Beautiful Light—Joe Reilly
44. November—Grace & Tony
45. Still Into You—Paramore
46. The Delinquent—Saskwatch
47. Jesus Saved My Soul, But…—Port City Prophets
48. Shot Down—The Royal Blackbirds
49. Saddle Up the Whales—White Ravens
50. Carnival—Nora Jane Struthers & the Party Line
51. Rumba Nova—Bevel Emboss
52. Rollin’ Over—Skinny Lister
53. The Superposition of Human Affection–Miniboone
54. Waiting for Something to Happen—Veronica Falls
55. Top 100—Julia Massey & The Five Finger Discount
56. I Need Your Love—Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding
57. The Quirk—John Ginty
58. Urleen Share Your Turnip Greens—Wild Fruit
59. Morning Electric—Sonic Graffiti
60. Suit & Tie—Justin Timberlake with Jay—Z
Happy Birthday Elvis!! Here’s the King gettin’ funky near the end of his movie career doing the original version of A Little Less Conversation:
The sad news about Phil Everly‘s passing makes me want to reflect on The Everly Brothers in their prime performing Bye Bye Love on Julius LaRosa‘s TV Show:
Although the pop charts didn’t seem to have room for The Everly Brothers after The 60’s, and the brothers couldn’t help fighting amongst themselves, they had a resurgence in The 80’s spurred by the artists that were fans themselves. Here’s an interesting version of The Everly Brothers singing Why Worry [GSER]–they had already recorded their own version of the Dire Straits song written by Mark Knopfler by this time, who is also here playing with his guitar hero, Chet Atkins.
Mark’s smile says it all:
The Andrews Sisters also had some of the most recognizable sibling harmony! Here they are “hoofing it” in Abbott & Costello’s Buck Privates:
I know I’ve posted this video before, but “Falling” by Joanie Leeds and The Nightlights is one of my favorite songs of the year!!!!
Be My Baby by The Ronettes is a classic GSER. Ashleigh Ball, David Beckingham, and David Vertesi of Hey Ocean! do their own version that more than stands up to the original! Here they are in a live performance in front of a hometown Vancouver crowd:
Skinny Lister has been a favorite of mine all year! Here is a very spirited live version pre Coachella of Trawlerman:
My favorite almost Beatles song of the year is Another Day by Thorcraft Cobra.
Actually, it’s a great song just on its own!
