--via James Wells
Monday, February 28, 2022
PERFORMANCE: Everybody Ought to have a Maid, BBC Proms
Simon Russell Beale, Daniel Evans, Julian Ovenden, and Bryn Terfel inventory the joys of having a tidy house helper. Music & lyric: Stephen Sondheim
Don't quit til you see four ...
Clip: Sondheim 80th Birthday, 2010 BBC proms
Mekka lekka
Mekka lekka hi mekka hiney ho.
Mekka lekka hi mekka chahny ho.
Happy Birthday, Peewee.
Herman is 65 today.
Ethennonnhawahstihnen’
T.O. councilor Shelley Carroll teaches you how to say Ethennonnhawahstihnen', the new name for Woodsy Park.
Morty Shulman taught me how to say Roncesvalles.
It didn't stick.
Crossword puzzle makers: a word with six "N's"!
Sunday, February 27, 2022
LOST SONGS: The Cabin
This should be Canada's national Love Song.
Ylvis is the Norwegian comedy team, brothers Vegard and Bård Ylvisåker.
Sally Kellerman ( 1937 - 2023 )
Sally Kellerman loved to sing.
Which explains why she took a plane to Ottawa in winter to tape a doomed variety show at the CTV station best known for Galloping Gourmet and Celebrity Cooks. It was the 1970s.
As part of this fever dream, I was at the Park Lane while she regaled the crew with ribald tales of movie debauchery and dirty jokes. (The mastubation joke made it into her cabaret act above.)
The next day, Sally taped two tunes with a live band, her melancholy air and sultry voice alarmingly touching and tearful. You and Me Against the World (Paul Williams). It was unexpected.
You could hear otters' hearts break, two miles upstream.
It was the only time the audience reaction seemed genuine, surprised and delighted.
Everybody involved got a hug as we watched the tape playback. It got her gigs for a decade.
At the airport she gave us hick TV wannabees her home phone number--this after one day in Ottawa--and blew us kisses at the gate.
Three airports to get home. Damn.
Covid's over, bring your own bag
Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein deal with a bag-less customer at a hip grocery in Portlandia.
The customer's Jack McBrayer (30 Rock)
Saturday, February 26, 2022
LOST SONGS: What Does The Fox Say?
Elephant goes toot.
But what does the Fox say?
Have you forgotten? Learned nothing?
We were told nine years ago.
Get a grip.
Info wars
_Those who've discovered BBC and SkyNews both have 24/7 live news feeds
on YouTube, tip another interesting find.
YouTube now labels many news feeds.
On Al Jazeera: "Al Jazeera is funded in whole or in part by the government of Qatar."
On DW: "DW is Germany's state-owned network."
RT's channels have disappeared
from YouTube in many parts of the world, but were labelled as Russian controlled.
In retaliation, Russia has threatened to
cancel YouTube, a Russian viewer fave.
Now there's a revolt.
Friday, February 25, 2022
Awesome Oslo
Just before dawn yesterday, I watched what might be the future of classical music.
Far from the usual telecast of symphony orchestras, the Oslo Philharmonic uses every angle of its striking concert hall to grab an audience conditioned by TV blip ads, sound bites and tweets.
I gave up trying to count how many cameras are involved: the pace and shot selection are dazzling. A live concert, edited on the fly by someone who is so familiar with the music, is required viewing by anyone interested in TV or music.
Is there a shot that lasts more than 2-3 seconds?
How many fixed cameras are actually in the orchestra for those impressive art angles?
The premier performance aspect of this music may be in the telecast. It has visual drive, emotion.
Or maybe I'm just starved and sad for Canada's orchestras, forced to rely on the kindness of corporate virtue signalling to exist.
When was the last time the CBC put serious music, dance or an art event on the air?
Sometime in the 90s? Or was it the 80s?
The population of Norway is just over 5 million.
Bravo Oslo.
Here, we 38 million are doomed to wannabe sitcoms and the charmless drone of The National.
Canada's orchestras should be doing business on YouTube and demanding a share of whatever cultural poobahs demand of Netflix.
Clip: Symphony No. 2 / Sergei Rachmaninoff / Vasily Petrenko / Oslo Philharmonic
Production crew uncredited, NRK is Norway's state broadcaster
Thursday, February 24, 2022
_
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Cool crossing
Sheep cross the ice to Waupoos, back when winters were colder in Prince Edward county.
Photo archive: Kingston Sheepdog Trials
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
PERFORMANCE: Once In A Lifetime, David Byrne
Get off that damn pandemic couch ...
and dance.
Same as it ever was, dude.
Clip: David Byrne album 'Live from Austin, TX'
Monday, February 21, 2022
Walter in Winter - purrfect
Walter the Cat, gained new fans during Chevrolet's Olympics ad barrage ...
and Chevy's earlier kitty pitch.
Meow.
Sunday, February 20, 2022
_Kid stuff
_ “The grand old
Duke of York,
he had 12 million quid.
He gave it to someone he’d never
met,
for something he never did.”
--alternative nursery rhyme "made up within palace walls,"
Times of London
* * *
Beginning the Royal Jubilee Year
of sex trafficking verse
Toronto's 1943 Santa Claus parade
Old Toronto's YouTube channel offers a glimpse of T.O's past, with several uncomfortable insights.
Saturday, February 19, 2022
Under water
Friday, February 18, 2022
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