She Only Sang Two Words

I'm flipping to network (yes, I know) to find out if mother nature is about to rip my house off the face of the earth and I blunder onto (yes) America's Got Talent.

And someone's singing Ave Maria. Young African-American woman with white dreadlocks.

The marquee identifies her as:

Lys Agnès, 27
Unemployed

She's done in less than two minutes and as I said, she sings only two words  ...but how she sang them!

Jeezus, Mary and Joseph - she blew the roof off the place.

Here's the YouTube.

She already has a website "coming soon," so this is perhaps a well-managed PR undercurrent. But screw it, she sings like that and has some range - she will sell music - and lots of it.

The Young Ones Theme Song

If you're like the Awl's Dave Bry, (and myself) you thought the Brit-Com The Young Ones was about the funniest thing on late 80's TV. University Challenge still kills.

Anyway, I never knew (and Bry's post points out) that the Young Ones theme song was a Cliff Richards cover, Makes sense, but any Young Ones fans out there might be just as surprised as I was to hear the original version by Cliff Richards and the Shadows:

A Bar In Amsterdam

Back from my trip. Short version - it rocked.

I'll post pics when I have my act together. In the spirit of my Norwegian interlude (and at the suggestion of Penguin) - here's a video from an offbeat Norwegian band called Katzenjammer.

Good fun.

It's the 198th Anniversary of the Battle of York!

You know, in the War of 1812...where the Americans overwhelmed the British garrison of the Town of York (present day Toronto) and then sacked the town after their leader, Zebulon Pike was killed by an exploding armory?

...And...the savagery of the Americans at York was used as a justification for the British burning Washington D.C...?

Nothin'...?

Yeah, me neither.

I just wanted an excuse to post this video of the Three Dead Trolls playing their War of 1812 song. Enjoy.

Ok, Damn - This Too Shall Pass

Awhile ago - Honda threw down the Rube Goldberg gauntlet with their commercial, The Cog.

The band OK Go has picked it up with a vengeance. Their video, This Too Shall Pass is sure to be (if it isn't already) full on viral.

Rube Goldberg, eat your heart out:



They've helpfully added a four part video diary showing how the video was made, but unfortunately the band members talk too much so you don't get to see all the geekish glory.

Still.

Damn.

Tough Crowd

This was just too weird not to mention:

Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord

Mr. Gregorio, 63, a witness to countless fistfights and occasional stabbings erupting from disputes over karaoke singing, did not dare choose one beloved classic: Frank Sinatra’s version of “My Way.”

“I used to like ‘My Way,’ but after all the trouble, I stopped singing it,” he said. “You can get killed.”

The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”

Why does it happen?

...most of the “My Way” killings have reportedly occurred after the singer sang out of tune, causing other patrons to laugh or jeer.

“The trouble with ‘My Way,’ ” said Mr. Gregorio, “is that everyone knows it and everyone has an opinion.”

Ukelele Smile

So this morning - I'm in a foul mood. I was working yesterday until 9pm. I'm up to my eyes in work, having been utterly screwed by my Outlook refusing to send my email for two days - meaning half my clients think I've skipped out on them

- and I'm about halfway to a migrane.

Enter my team leader.

They plop down their iPhone on my desk and say they are going to YouTube bomb me.

*incoming bomb whistle*



The song he's singing is Jason Mraz's, I'm Yours. Say what you like, the boy's got stage presence.

(Yeah, I know - it's ridiculous, but this morning I needed a grin... and I suspect other people out there do, too.)

Who says Auto tune is the harbinger of cultural doom?

It spruced up Carl Sagan - and now it gives life to Billy Mays. (Headphones suggested, but not required).

H/t DB

Sing with me...

Are you tired of using sprays that only mask odors?

Proof that opera is universal

...is the flawless operatic skewering of Alberto Gonzales in The Gonzales Cantata.



The words are directly from the hearing transcripts - and the music is just marvelous.

Proof positive that the highest form of cruelty is to expose people to their own actions.

Hell, skip the satire and just spool it up for background sound. It's plenty good just as musical entertainment.

(H/t to Ms. Maddow)

Flash of recognition

These days, I don't listen to the radio much. For music, that is. I listen to plenty of news and radio shows - but the idea of rolling the dice on some music station in the hopes that some software algorithm and I will hit it off just seems like a waste of time.

Which means precious little new music makes it into my head these days. My sister in law forwards the occasional new band or song - but she's about my only regular vector for new culture.

Three years ago, I was listening to NPR and their house music critic was discussing some bands they felt were ones to watch. I remember pulling into my driveway - in my usual distracted state - and they critic was cycling through crap, crap, and - well, more crap.

I remember it was just me in the car and about the time I normally reach for the keys to switch things off - I heard this song.

And it rocked. Soaring lyrics. Rich, symphonic backgrounds.

One of those moments you just sit there and wait until the music is done with you.

They only played a verse or two - and the best I could remember was the the band had some slavic name. Totally struck out on the web search, couldn't spell the name right I'm sure. Rrrgh!

It had a name with something like 'votch' in the name. I tried a few variants, no luck. Frustrating as all hell. The internet, and iTunes - and I can't identify or acquire the music I wanted.

Couldn't let it go, though. My memory is pretty good, so when it fails, it gets really obstinate. Ironclad recollection of details that won't help me in a search engine. Maddening.

It's been rattling around my head for years - I ended up using 'votch' as part of the name of a clan of bad guys in my gaming campaign - couldn't do anything else useful with it.  Like a sliver in the mind. Rrrrgh!

Until last night. I'm watching TV at stupid o' clock in the morning and there's a commercial for (of all things) a video game.

And they're playing the song.

Hold your grandmother’s bible to your breast
Gonna put it to the test
You wanted it to be blessed
And in your heart
You know it to be true
You know what you gotta do
They all depend on you

And you already know
Yes you already know
How this will end

Sung by a man channeling Morrissey who's fronting some classically-trained gypsies.

At last.

Anyone can be replaced...

I need to start this out by saying:

I. Am not. A Journey fan.

But I saw this on CBS Sunday Morning, and it just spun my head a bit.

Let's say you're Journey - the band. You've had a falling out with your lead singer - and without Steve Perry - you're just a bunch of old musicians who want to tour again. You're hosed.

I mean, it's not like you're going find someone who can belt it out like -



Yeah. That's not Steve Perry - his name is Arnel Pineda.

That's just uncanny.

The Journey guys saw a YouTube video of him covering their songs in Hong Kong. So they call him and say "wanna tour?"

The interview with the band is hilarious. I mean, the Journey guys are so obviously like "we SO lucked out - I TOTALLY need this money" and Pineda comes across like a nice guy who won the lottery.

I wonder how long it will take for the pretend chemistry to wear off and Pineda realizes he can dump these guys and go solo.

Late Edit: The original video got pulled - but I've replaced it with Pineda playing in his band Zoo from Hong Kong.

Later Edit: Rrrg. They keep pulling videos. Search YouTube yourself for this guy. Seriously. He sounds EXACTLY like Steve Perry. It's just freaky.

Comrade Skynyrd-ski

I'll let DangerRoom do the intro, but this is easily the freakiest thing I've seen in weeks.

What do you get when you take a Finnish rock group that calls itself Leningrad Cowboys, back them up with the Red Army Choir, and put them in front of a stadium full of screaming Russian teenagers to sing Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama?

Easy, you get this:



If old Russia isn't already dead, I'm thinking this oughta do it.

Look out kid, it's somthin' ya did...

(via TPM, emphasis added)

Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

It's like somebody in the RIAA has got it in their mind to alienate everyone who has ever bought music.

Good luck prosecuting us all.

Dead to rights

Years ago, I published a parody website that got me in trouble with my former employers. The essay that got me in the hottest water was a story titled "Unpleasant Subject Avoided at All-Staff Meeting." The story had a firm footing in reality, but the joke was that the article did just what it lambasted management for doing; it didn't mention the unpleasant subject.

I think this subtlety eluded management at first. When I finally 'fessed up to management about writing the article, I'd pointed out the joke and instantly felt the tension go out of the room. The managers had been mad at what they'd thought I'd said, instead of what I actually had. I got a sheepish grin instead of a tongue-lashing.

Later, I was invited back by the same manager to sample (of all things) some music that took a similar tack of generic-language humor. It was a CD by a group called Da Vinci's Notebook. There was a lot to love on the CD, but the priceless bit was a parody of pretty much all ballads ever written called Title of the Song.

Title of the Song is a description of all the stereotypical ingredients of a love ballad – set to music. A brilliant and thorough skewering of the entire genre.

I laughed my butt off in the manager's office – it was hilarious. I duped a copy to my work computer and listened to it for the rest of the day.

Eventually I swapped computers and lost my stored copy – but I assumed I'd be able to get a copy in any store or on iTunes.

And I couldn't – these guys had no web presence – at least not then. Totally pissed me off. I'd have bought the CD if I could find it. I'd given up on finding them. Obviously - I quit too soon.

Today, Sivacracy has found them – and you can hear the music online or even watch the video. I'd do the audio first, their lyrics and delivery are better than the visuals.

Here's hoping their musical send up of Disney, "Kingdom of the Sky" is out there as well.

Thanks, Siva! I'd totally forgotten about these guys.

Late edit: I clearly should have Google-ed these guys before now. Watch this video (Not Safe for Work)

Reverberate

Last week, my sister-in-law gave me a copy of Neko Case's Blacklisted, and I just can't shake the song, "Deep Red Bells." She wrote it about the Green River Killer, which gives it the macabre flavor that ensures maximum sticking power - at least, for people like me.

The windout has been camped out in my head for three solid days:

Where does this mean world cast its cold eye?
Who’s left to suffer long about you?
Does your soul cast about like an old paper bag,
past empty lots and early graves,
of those like you who lost their way
-murdered on the interstate-
While the red bells rang like thunder?

You'll just have to imagine Neko's voice soaring through the last line like an avenging angel.

Gives me chills.

Star Witness

Ok, I'll grant that right now I'm pretty susceptible, it being 7:44 on a Friday night and I’m here at work, up to my neck in it – but I’m getting seriously messed up by Neko Case’s ‘Star Witness’ right now…

Give it a listen (.ra file on NPR.org). The lady can bring it.