A Commentary On Today's Music

This week, I decided to see just how "old" I really am. In a past life, I was a Top-40 DJ in the Midwest, and during that time, I grew to like much of the music that I had played while working at the radio station.

Well, not long after my departure from the broadcasting biz, the music became different. I remember when I was a kid, my parents didn't like my choices in music: Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, etc. Now I understand what they meant, thanks to groups like the Black Eyed Peas. Oh, some of their stuff is pretty good (like "Let's Get It Started"), but a lot of it is nothing more than mindless dreck.

For this week's VOTW, I give you a take on one of Black Eyed Peas' biggest hits, as interpreted by Alanis Morissette. It's her version of "My Humps". For comparison purposes, I have also provided the original video by the Peas.

Personally, I like Alanis' version much better...

An Interpretation of a "Wonderful" Song

This video has been circulating in e-mails over the last several weeks, and now I share it with you.

The great Louis Armstrong recorded the song "What a Wonderful World" back in the late 1960s, but it resonates even today as a message of hope for Mankind's future. Not bad for a minor jazz number sung by a trumpeter in less than 2-1/2 minutes.

At this year's Helpmann Awards (Australia's rough equivalent to the Tony Awards), an unusualist named Raymond Crowe treated the audience to a shadow-puppet interpretation of this classic song. Sit back and watch the magic!

Another Twisted Trailer

This week, I bring you a reimagined trailer for an Oscar-winning Best Picture. And to make it interesting, it's from an unlikely source. What if West Side Story (1961) wasn't a musical? The person who put this together did an excellent editing job. Just watch it for yourself, and see how brilliant it is!

What's next, The Silence of the Lambs (1991) as a comedy? :)

"Is This the Real Life..."

This past Wednesday, September 5, was the 61st anniversary of the birth of one of rock music's greatest talents. When his voice was silenced in 1991, the world didn't mourn his loss; they celebrated his life and his gift of music.

I was first turned on to his group's music back in 1974, when they released a minor hit single about a woman "guaranteed to blow your mind, anytime"*. But the next year, they released what can only be decsribed as "The Song", and from that moment I was hooked. Rolling Stone magazine called it "either a progressive rock benchmark, or the most convoluted pop song ever recorded". A BBC Radio poll once revealed this song to be both the best and the worst song in rock history -- at the same time! I am talking, of course, about "Bohemian Rhapsody", by Queen, and the man who wrote that song, the late Freddie Mercury.

For this week's VOTW, I wanted to give tribute to Freddie, but I had a harder time going about it than I thought. I initally wanted a performance piece, or the "Barcelona" video, but I decided that was cliché. Then I discovered a clip of a classical guitar lesson DVD by Edgar Cruz, featuring this song. After more digging, I found performances by people who learned to play it from the DVD.

Of those clips, I judged this to be the best of them. This is a live performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody", arranged for classical guitar, by a gentleman named David Schaub. And I also feel it is a moving tribute to Freddie, and the fact that his voice still resonates after all these years.

If you happen to be a Queen fan, I would recommend you have a Kleenex handy...


* -- The song was "Killer Queen"

It's Not Duck Season, Its Not Wabbit Season...

...Then it must be Football seaon!

As I type this, it is 96 dregrees outside (and it's not even 11:00am yet!), but fall is in the air!

After spending over a third of my life in Nebraska, it is hard to let go of my love for Cornhusker Football. With that in mind, I bring you this tribute to the upcoming season for this week's VOTW. Go Big Red!