Search This Blog

Friday, October 22, 2010

The Jazz Singers

So I guess it was about a year ago when I first heard of Melody Gardot. She was tragically hit by a car and used music as therapy to recover from her very traumatic injuries. She doesn't wear sunglasses to try to look like a rock star. She is still sensitive to light from her injuries and has no choice but to wear them. I included two videos here. Both taken from the same Norwegian/Swedish talk show. for some reason they don't have shows like this in the states. At least i don't know where to find them. The first video is an interview where she explains a little bit of what she went through. The second is her performance. Lets just say I immediately bought her album after watching these a year ago. I was just reminded of them and had no choice but to share.

Just for the heads up it takes about 15 min to watch them both. I suggest watching the interview before the song.

The interview


The performance


since we are on the topic of jazz singers......
a bonus video......Kat Edmonson is a local musician in Austin that has been branching out but still very much local. Saw her once at a wine festival and left with the vinyl. Excellent album. Who knew I was such a Jazz fan. I have to thank Miles Davis and Stan Getz for getting me hooked.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Boom Goes The Dynamite

I just want to say that I'm very proud of Brian Collins. I heard on the radio that he landed a job as a sportscaster somewhere north of Texas. I wanted to post this infamous clip in honor of him. Good stuff. The catch phrase happens right around 2:30 in. Way to overcome bro. You're an inspiration to us all.




Some more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Collins_%28reporter%29

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Happy Birthday Mr. Simon, and how some things have changed



On October 13th, 1941 Paul Simon was born. I guess I really listened to him for the first time when I was around 16 or 17. That's not counting the video he made with Chevy Chase for his song "You Can Call Me Al". That was my favorite when I was a kid, but I only knew him from that one video. I'm sure I had heard his music but it didn't really make as much sense when I was young and naive. When I became older his songs started making sense and I could tell how much of a unique and different songwriter and singer he was compared to everything else I heard on the radio. To sum up....when I was young I didn't think much about his music, but when I got older and wiser I realized just how great it is. At least that's my opinion. But when looking up a video of Paul Simon to post I was reminded of something. As everybody knows things have changed a ton in music and the marketing of music over the years. Most of the time it appears that it's not even about the music at all, but about how many dollars can be made in selling what the bigwigs think will be the most profitable product. Which of course is not what music is about. Here's my example of how things have changed:

Paul Simon on Sesame Street around 1978 (and yes i'm using Sesame Street as my example) Just Paul sitting and singing with some kids.



Now flash forward to 2010 and take a look at what Sesame Street is now showing the kiddos



2010 is just a little different and in my opinion all smoke and mirrors with no substance. I can understand if kids like it because they don't know any better. I just hope they are like me and grow up to like good music and realize what it's about since the mainstream media won't unless it puts more money in their pockets.

Didn't mean to get on a soapbox or anything. Just something I noticed. If you don't agree with me then fell free to tell me:

Monday, October 4, 2010

The guitar is full out sobbing

Say what you will about Prince. Some people like him. Some people don't. I've never really formed much of an opinion about him either way. But one thing is for sure. That guy can play the guitar with or better then the best of them. I barely even noticed him on here and then he magically appears about 3:30 min in and plays a killer guitar solo that basically lasts the rest of the song.