Over the weekend, I posted a couple songs taken from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. Via Twitter, someone reminded me of the Nutcracker by Spike Jones and His City Slickers, released in 1945. It was arranged by Joe “Country” Washburne, with special lyrics and effects by Foster Carling, featuring Susan Scott and a mixed chorus. You can [...]
Twirling That “Umbrella”
Last night’s Glee kind of annoyed me. The show’s been very hit-and-miss all along, but especially so this season. The one thing they’ve usually gotten right is the music performances. So it was distressing to see them do “Make ‘em Laugh” from Singin’ in the Rain and “Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag” from Chicago, more or less [...]
Mitch Miller: Enemy of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Mitch Miller died earlier this week. Most people who knew the guy went right away to “Oh, the fella who did Sing Along With Mitch.” But I immediate think, “Oh, right. Mitch Miller: Enemy of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Miller was first a classical musician and then an A&R man for Mercury and then Columbia Records. [...]
Ain’t Nothing New About Miley Cyrus
This article in yesterday’s NY Times caught my eye, since it’s about young fans of Miley Cyrus possibly being turned off by her new adult moves. It didn’t resonate with me because I’m a Miley hater (that said, I don’t care for her, personally or artistically) or because I disapprove of her acting beyond her [...]
Sade’s “Soldier of Love”
I’ve been listening to the new Sade album and enjoying it quite a lot. It brings to mind this 2005 post about Sade, in which I said that Sade Adu’s voice is not always served by the production. To my mind, it needs a little weight behind it. Lovely and ethereal needs something to hold [...]
So Corny and So Cool
So, there was Glee and then NBC kind of ripped it off a bit for The Sing Off. And then Ben Folds was a judge on The Sing Off because he had already put out an album of university a cappella groups doing covers of his songs. Point is, there’s something kind of funny about [...]
“No, I don’t think that’s what mistletoe is for.”
Here’s a little holiday number from the band Patent Pending: “She’s a Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas.” You can buy a download here.
The Cardinal Rule of Christmas Music
It’s quite simple. Nobody has ever done a decent cover version of Eartha Kitt’s 1953 hit “Santa Baby.” Never. It can’t be done. The original is a comic portrait of avarice. Eartha Kitt could carry it off. Everybody else either comes off as a gold-digging ditz (I’m thinking of Madonna) or they treat the song [...]
The Pet Shop Boys – It Doesn’t Often Snow at Christmas
The band recorded this for their fan club in 1997. Here is a live performance, from the Dec. 22, 2000 broadcast of TFI Friday, guest hosted by Elton John.
Alexander Hamilton caught beef with every other founding father.
When Lin-Manuel Miranda is on it, it thrills me to watch him perform. His Broadway show In The Heights is admittedly fraught with clichés, but seeing true hip-hop live on a Broadway stage sent chills up my spine. In this video, Miranda performs at the White House. I hope his description of The Hamilton Mixtape [...]