Goodbye Mary

So sad.

Mary Travers
Rest In Peace
1936-2009

Amazing

God, I love this.

Damn.

UPDATE
Here is the original Motown 25 performance for comparison.


And this from Andrew Sullivan is spot on:

There are two things to say about him. He was a musical genius; and he was an abused child. By abuse, I do not mean sexual abuse; I mean he was used brutally and callously for money, and clearly imprisoned by a tyrannical father. He had no real childhood and spent much of his later life struggling to get one. He was spiritually and psychologically raped at a very early age - and never recovered. Watching him change his race, his age, and almost his gender, you saw a tortured soul seeking what the rest of us take for granted: a normal life.

But he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for so long a walking human shell.

I loved his music. His young voice was almost a miracle, his poise in retrospect eery, his joy, tempered by pain, often unbearably uplifting. He made the greatest music video of all time; and he made some of the greatest records of all time. He was everything our culture worships; and yet he was obviously desperately unhappy, tortured, afraid and alone.

I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours' and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out.

I hope he has the peace now he never had in his life. And I pray that such genius will not be so abused again.

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The King of Pop

Weird. Yes. Strange. Yes. Self-Indulgent. Yes. Creepy. Yes. Sad. Terribly.

But never forget the music, the performances, and the groundbreaking videos. Michael Jackson was the musical powerhouse of my generation.

My sister and I used to play Jackson 5 45s over and over and sing them together. I loved all of his early solo albums, and saw Michael and his brothers in concert once. I'll always love his music. And I still get a thrill watching his videos.

My wife and stepchildren don't get what all the fuss is about today. But I am mourning him and appreciating what his music and personality meant to me.

• Ten songs by which to remember Michael Jackson
• Can't stop crying over Michael Jackson
• Michael, Farrah and David's Passing a Death of Our Childhood
• Michael Jackson videos: The Best of the Best
  

Here are my Top 12 (couldn't stop at 10) Michael Jackson songs (post Jackson 5 but including the Jacksons):
1. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
2. Billie Jean
3. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
4. Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)
5. Can You Feel It (The Jacksons)
6. Do You Remember the Time
7. The Way You Make Me Feel
8. This Place Hotel (The Jacksons)
9. Rock with You
10. Human Nature
11. Smooth Criminal
12. Scream (with Janet Jackson ... and the most expensive video ever made)
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What a wonderful world ...

I love unbridled creativity! We need more joy in our lives. This helps.


And what a genius Dick Van Dyke was and is. Fun.
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Just for fun ...

This is just wild ...

17 years old ... cool.

Wow. Just wow!

Watch this vid from Britains Got Talent, which I like so much better than American Idol because of the constant surprises. Here is some background:

Across the pond, "Britain's Got Talent" scored a huge boost in the Buzz after an unassuming contestant gave an amazing performance.Susan Boyle (remember that name) became a Web phenomenon after singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables. The performance brought the audience to its feet and left the judges (including Simon Cowell) either speechless or in tears.Before going on stage, Ms. Boyle admitted some self-deprecating facts about herself (she's never been kissed and lives alone with her cat, Pebbles). For those reasons and more, audiences were expecting the female William Hung. They were wrong. ... while Ms. Boyle thought she "looked like a garage" on TV, she received a standing ovation when she showed up at her local church. Other sources write that as a child, Ms. Boyle was the target of bullies because of a disability. But, with her newfound fame, she is getting the last laugh.

Stick with this long video, you will be glad you did.
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The sound on this embed isn't too great, so go here for better versions.

It couldn't be this bad this year, right?

Presidential Inaugural Weather

Coldest January Date (and overall):

1985 - President Ronald Reagan's second swearing-in ceremony on January 21 had to be held indoors and the parade was canceled. The outside temperature at noon was only 7°F. The morning low was 4° below zero and the daytime high was only 17°. Wind chill temperatures during the afternoon were in the -10 to -20°F range.

And I was there. I was a member of the Collegiate All-American Marching Band and we were supposed to march in the Parade. But, if my memory is correct, the next day they had a special event in the arena where the Washington Bullets played basketball and we did get to perform for the President and Vice President.
It was a fun time. They put us up in the barracks of a nearby military base, and it was damn cold.
I still remember my lips freezing to my trombone mouthpiece and my slide locking up in the cold.

A not-so-pale charred dot

Someone mixed Pink Floyd with this footage from a Discovery Channel show about a catastrophic asteroid collision with earth. Don't worry, you'll probably never see it coming.


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A holiday favorite

This '80s music video was very powerful, raised a ton of money to fight starvation in Africa, and it's a good song too!




Stars include Sting, Paul Young, Bono, Simon Le Bon, George Michael, Bob Geldof, Boy George, Phil Collins, Bananarama, and more

Where had Peter Gabriel been?

OK. We saw WALL-E tonight and I really enjoyed it. It was spectacularly animated, the story was very good, there was sadness, humor, love and I have to place it high on this list. And we all agreed that the ending credits were as interesting as the movie. I would actually pay to see a movie based on the ending credit animations. And the amazing Peter Gabriel did this fantastic song over the end credits.

Viva Las Vegas!

My beautiful and thoughtful wife spent a lot of time planning a big surprise trip for my birthday. Sharyn, Hannah, Ryan, and our friends Alex, Natalia and Katherine kept the secret from me for several months. On Friday, we left the house at 5:30 a.m. and by the time we met up with our friends I had figured out that we were on our way to Las Vegas!

We stayed at the Stratosphere, visited several other mega-hotels and casinos, gambled just a little tiny bit (and just broke even), shopped till we dropped, ate a ton, and caught a fantastic show at the Mirage.

You are probably familiar with Cirque du Soleil and they have a new show in Vegas called "Love" that celebrates the musical legacy of The Beatles in spectacular fashion. Go to the site and click on the preview for a look-see.

Anyway, thank you Sharyn, Hannah, Ryan, Alex, Natalia, Katherine, and Matt who watched the pets for us. It was a memorable and special birthday!

I love you, Sharyn.

"I have been wrong more often than I have been right, it seems ..."

I found this entry at Instaputz:

This sentiment, re: the "Yes, We Can" video, is, I think, quite lovely and correct.

"My daughter is 28, about the age of many of the people in this video. I don't know for whom she's planning to vote. We haven't discussed it; it's her business.I do know, however, that at age 57 I wish I had done a better job caring for our country and our planet, for her sake and those of her peers. I have been wrong more often than I have been right, it seems. I have been lazy and selfish when I should have been industrious and giving. I think it's obvious to anyone making a rational assessment that humanity in general and enough folks like me in particular have failed in a thousand little ways that have led inexorably to failure in several big, big ways. Babies still starve to death. Gorgeous creatures that once roamed free are now pushed to extinction. Men still take up arms against one another, and now, more often than not, women do, too.
I don't know for sure if Barack Obama is the candidate to lead us out of this mess; I don't know for sure if he can even lead us to a solution to any of our tempests du jour like health care or immigration. But I do know that I would find it completely understandable if the young people asked to participate in the video had simply shrugged their shoulders and said, "Fuck it. I'm looking out for Number One, and that's it."
That they did not, that they chose instead to try to motivate others to feel a little mist of hope in a desert of cynicism, brought tears to my eyes as I watched them, whoever they are."

This video continues to blow up on the internet. It is beautiful.

The Yes We Can Song

Watch this and share it. Yes we can!

Silly President, Silly Internet Stuff

I'm sitting here listening to George Bush give his State of the Union speech. Urp. I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

To make this more enjoyable, I found this time waster on Shakesville:

Make your own album cover!
You will need some graphic skills .... Here’s what you do:

• The article you get when you click this link is your band title
  
• The last four words of the last quote on this page is your album title


• And on this page the third picture, the one in the upper right, will be your cover photo.


• When you create it, make sure you make it a square so that it’s a realistic album cover.

Mine is at the top. Ngoila is a village in Cameroon. The words are from a quote by Thomas Jefferson.

It's just a small obsession ... nothing to worry about.

I just can't get this tune or this music video out of my head! If you saw the movie Inside Man with Clive Owen and Denzel Washington, a hip-hop version of this song played over the end credits. It is called Chaiya Chaiya and it is originally from the Bollywood (India/Hindi film industry) movie Dil Se which came out many years ago. The setting and choreography of this video is amazing (it takes place on top of a moving train). Hindi music videos are trippy and fun. The women sing like they are inhaling helium and everyone dances in sinc like there's no tomorrow. If you haven't watched many Bollywood films, here are a couple of recommendations: Salaam Bombay, The Namesake (on my list to see) and my personal favorite Monsoon Wedding.



Enjoy!