Category: YouTube

The Day The Music Died

I feel as though I “knew” Buddy Holly. I’ve owned and listened to his songs by him and the Crickets


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and also through the cover versions by the Beatles (Words of Love), Linda Ronstadt and lots of others. Little wonder that Paul McCartney snatched up the rights to Buddy’s songs. I also saw the The Buddy Holly Story with Gary Busey in the lead.

I felt as though I was familiar with Richie Valens,


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between the Los Lobos cover of La Bamba and the movie La Bamba with Lou Diamond Phillips.

I have little feel, though, for The Big Bopper. I know that his son had him exhumed under some bizarre paranoid theory that the Big Bopper survived the plane crash but was shot and killed going for help. But other than the one slightly randy hit Chantilly Lace, he’s a mystery.

Of course today mars the 50th anniversary of the deaths of these three musicians in an Iowa plane crash. I was alive but too young to remember the event first hand.

At the end of my 35-year high school reunion, someone had everyone stand around to sing. I had no idea what it’d be. Turned out to be American Pie, which I thought was kind of weird, in as much as it came out after we all graduated. Some people knew some parts, misremembered others. Here are the lyrics, along with one interpretation of same, not all of which I ascribe to. And here’s Don McLean singing it. I saw him in the late 1970s – I’m thinking in Dutchess County, NY, around Poughkeepsie – and of course he HAD to perform it. I wonder if he ever tires of it?
LINK.

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Only in America

I’ve been pondering all the analysis about the significance of the Obama Presidency. Some say it’s the downpayment of the Dream, while others suggest it’s the fulfillment of the Dream. I tend toward the former category. I worry that “ah, we have a black President – all of our racial issues are solved!” Also, I would hate for Obama 44 to be the fulfillment if it turns out that he – using a word my wife hates – SUCKED as President. I mean, he’s done well out of the gate, but it’s not even two weeks out of 208. Also, racial disparities still exist, the Colin Powells and Barack Obamas notwithstanding.

All of this reminded me of a treacly song called Only in America by Jay and the Americans. It was a seemingly innocuous love song by Leiber/Stoller/Weill/Mann.

Only in America
Can a guy from anywhere
Go to sleep a pauper and wake up a millionaire
…
Only in America
Land of opportunity, yeah
Would a classy girl like you fall for a poor boy like me

Only in America
Can a kid who’s washin’ cars
Take a giant step and reach right up and touch the stars

Only in America
Could a dream like this come true
Could a guy like me start with nothing and end up with you

But it was the second couplet that caused a bit of controversy:
Only in America
Can a kid without a cent
Get a break and maybe grow up to be President

As done by the Americans, this was fine. But this song was originally written with the black vocal group, the Drifters, in mind. I’ve read that either Atlantic Records wouldn’t release it because it would be too controversial, or the group wouldn’t because the lyrics had been watered down.

Regardless, maybe the kid without a cent CAN “get a break and maybe grow up to be President”.

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WayneJohn’s post about time reminded me of another song, also somewhat appropriate in this context:
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The Chambers Brothers – Time Has Come Today
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Hembeck is 56


It’s no great secret that my good friend Fred Hembeck was instrumental in getting me to start blogging. I had contributed a couple things to him that he used in his blog, and that inspired me to do my own.

In recent months, though, Fred’s blogging output had begun to slacken appreciably. Part of that was due to the work involved in preparing for his still-available book, but also, he’d seemed to have just lost a little of his blogging mojo.

Until…

Fred discovered a revolutionary new technology that has re-energized his blog in the last month and a half. It’s called:

YouTube

As Fred himself said, “Okay, I’ll admit it–regarding YouTube, I’m way, WAAAAY behind the curve. But only because I knew what would happen if I allowed myself to do more than peak into the occasional video embedded over on another blog.

I knew I’d become obsessed.”

And obsessed he has become. But an obsessed Fred Hembeck is a Fred Hembeck who’s exciting to read. If you haven’t been been by Fred Sez, or haven’t been there lately, check it out.

WARNING: You may spend more time there watching his YouTube links than you planned.

Oh, and happy birthday, effendi – you’re older than I am for five weeks!
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Merry Christmas

Some Christmas limericks from The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form

Christmas by Bob Dvorak (Bob Dvorak)

Though merchants may tally its worth,

Our reflections should turn to His birth:

Christmas celebrates when

God appeared among men

With a message of peace for the earth.

Christmas by Richard Stehr (Richard Stehr)

If I missed out on Christmas, perhaps

It’s because I was one of those chaps

Who had chances to be

Perched upon Santa’s knee

But, unfortunately, let them lapse.

Christmas by Charles Silliman (Charles Silliman)

By a star, the three wise men were led.

But they found, as they stood at His bed,

That the one brightest light

On that first Christmas night

Was the glow from the Son of God’s head.

Christmas by Dottie (Anne Clements)

There’s a brightly lit tree in the hall,

Lots of cards, all displayed on the wall.

Gifts are wrapped, shopping’s done,

Now it’s time for the fun—

Happy Christmas, dear friends, one and all!

Christmas by stella

May your Christmas be filled with delight;

May your tinsel be sparkly and bright;

May your crackers go pop!

May you eat till you drop;

And may you and your in-laws not fight.

***
The Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, MANY Faces of Santa Claus! by Fred Hembeck
***
Kringus Offerings by Samurai Frog
***

The arithmetic of Christmas: This person’s been talking about Christmas only since April. While it’s been less than 2% of my lifetime since last Christmas, it’s been over 20% of hers.

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W is for Waiting


Tom Petty, or as my late friend Tom used to call him, Tommy Pett, was right: The Waiting IS the hardest part.

Whether it is something leading to road rage or throwing something at computer that is downloading files too slowly, we just can’t wait. We’re in a hurry. Gotta multitask or you’ll miss something. Be in touch 24/7 with a variety of gadgetry.

One of my major pet peeves are people who park in crosswalks or incline planes where people with wheelchairs or carts should be able to operate, and all because the driver is “in a hurry” to stop and get a bagel that will take “just a minute”, instead of waiting to park in a spot three car lengths away. One time, in my neighborhood, that very scenario took place, when a blind man walked into a car parked in a crosswalk. The man was confused and disoriented, but I was too far away to assist him. Grrr!

Waiting in line or being on hold on a telephone can be the banes of my existence. Or not. I get to choose whether I use that time to observe/to think/to relax or to let it get me down. My choice. Reading material, though, DOES help.

I get the impression that there a lot of people out there waiting for love and romance.
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In fact, there seems to be plenty of reasons to wait. You don’t REALLY want to go swimming right after a big meal, do you? Or hit the SEND TO ALL button when you really wanted to eviscerate only one person? Sometimes counting to 10 (or 100) will keep one from saying just that particularly wrongheaded thing that is hard to take back.

Even the good things one has difficulty waiting. We are in the season of Advent in the Christian calendar, and it’s all about waiting, with those hymns in minor keys. Some just can’t wait for Christmas. (Is that why the local CVS drug store started playing Christmas music BEFORE VETERANS DAY? And doesn’t that just make the wait seem even longer starting music earlier?) We now have the U.S. Air Defense Command offering new high-tech ways to track Santa.

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(BTW, for the song above, I was really looking for the Ollabelle version. I guess I’ll have to WAIT for it to pop up on YouTube. But I DO like this version as well.)

Wait. You’d be surprised what you might find.

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