Jazzy Christmas Evening” “Christmas Time is Here” with George Winston



Photo: d3b

Most Christmas songs are peppy or sentimental, but this tune written by Vince Guaraldi and performed by George Winston is just the right blend of smooth and nostalgic.

It evokes fireplaces and hot chocolate with a touch of cinnamon. The Christmas lights are one, the rest of the lights are off, and no one is thinking about shopping or traveling.

We might be thinking of the Peanuts gang, but that’s to be expected.

The easiest way to find this one on Freegal is to do an advanced search. Put “George Winston” in the “Artist” field and “Christmas Time is Here” in the “song” field.



30th Anniversary on the 30th: Thriller by Michael Jackson



Photo:  XFONG



Today marks the 30^th anniversary of the release of Michael Jackson’s album, Thriller, the best-selling album of all time.

 

The album is available on Freegal.

From the top of the world in 1982, Jackson took a 20-year fall, his albums becoming less popular, and his persona devolving from a general weirdness into felonious creepiness.

Now that he has died, his reputation is predictably starting to recover, with shows like Dancing with the Stars doing several tributes to his dancing and his music.

In case you’ve forgotten, here are some factoids about the album:

·         At its peak, it sold 500,000 copies every week

·         The song “Beat It” featured Eddie Van Halen on the guitar

·         The first single released was “The Girl Is Mine” by Paul McCartney

·         MTV would air the 14-minute “Thriller” video twice an hour to meet demand.

Jackson pretty much built MTV with his “Thriller” and “Billie Jean” videos. All Jackson, all the time.

The man could sing and dance. Bob Fosse, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire were all fans of his dancing, with Astaire being quoted as saying, "My Lord, he is a wonderful mover. He makes these moves up himself and it is just great to watch...."

"Michael Jackson." Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 76. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.

 

The Cuban-American Party Ambassador: Global Warming by Pitbull

I suppose Pitbull would want to look cooler and meaner than this, but it’s the best bulldog picture I have.

Pitbull’s new album Global Warming  is available for free download from Freegal.

Sadly, it doesn’t seem to have a message about global warming.

Entertainment Weekly describes his music as a “booming brand with border-crossing dance-floor thumpers…”

He collaborates with the Wanted, Enrique Iglesias, J. Lo, and Christina Aguilera on this album.

“Just eat it” –A Song for Thanksgiving Leftovers: “Eat It” by Weird Al Yankovic

On your third day of turkey?

Had it baked boiled, fricasseed, fried, tetrazzini, a la mode?

You might be in the mood for Weird Al Yankovic’s parody of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”

Reportedly, Yankovic wasn’t sure what kind of reaction he’d get from the King of Pop when he submitted the lyrics.

Jackson thought it was funny, and let him proceed. Makes me think a little better of him, somehow.

“Eat It” is available for free download on Freegal. And so is Michael Jackson’s song, “Beat It.”

“She’s just a girl, and she’s on fire”: “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys



Photo: Sebastian Ritter

Alicia Keys came up out of Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan, and signed with Columbia at age 15. (They won the bidding war because they threw a baby grand piano in with the deal.)

She graduated high school two years early.

She says her musical influences were Mozart, Led Zeppelin, Nina Simone and Notorious B. I.G.

Her new single, “Girl on Fire” is available now on Freegal. The rest of the album is coming soon.



A Song for Thanksgiving: “Thankful” by Kelly Clarkson

Afternooon sun at Hudson Gardens. Photo: Ellen Mackey

Once there was this girl, named, Kelly in Texas who was great in school choir and was regularly chosen for the lead in school musicals. She dreamed of a career in singing, but back in ’02 she had a job handing out samples of Red Bull.

A friend convinced her to try out for this new TV show, called American Idol, or something like that. Kelly was known as a late sleeper, and she was so worried she’d miss the audition that she stayed up all night the night before.

Seems to have worked.

Thankful  is also the name of her first album. It’s available for free download from Freegal.

“Use the Force, Luke”—The Star Wars Theme by John Williams



"Star Wars" truffles by Ana Fuji



So, Disney has bought Lucasfilm, with their eyes especially on the Star Wars franchise. They promise episodes VII, VIII and IX in short order. Fortunately, they are going with respected screenplay writer Michael Arndt. Lucas made such a mess of I, II, and III, that I hope they’ll never let him near pen and paper again.

Freegal has lots of Star Wars music for free download, including music conducted by John Williams himself.

The most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly (Nov. 23) had a section for “5 Tips for Sequels That Won’t Suck.” Disney would do well to take note, especially tip # 3 (“Ban all Ewoks and Gungans”) and #4 (“Go easy on the phony-baloney bluescreen, please.”)

They also want Disney to kill off Han Solo. I don't know. Seems like he was the best character they had.

Dust Bowl Geek: “Do Re Mi” by Woody Guthrie

Photo: Dept. of Agriculture

I listened to Nanci Griffith’s version of this song for the longest time before I realized it was a song about the Dust Bowl. Or more precisely, it was about the Okies who tried to find a better life in California, but found it was hard to make a go of it if they didn’t already have some money—that do-re-mi.

It’s a little tough to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you don’t have any bootstraps.

Woody Guthrie’s version of the song is available for free download from Freegal.

Dust Bowl Geek: “Dust Bowl Blues” by Woody Guthrie

Photo: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library

Ken Burns is premiering his Dust Bowl series tonight.

Today’s Denver Post has an interview with a Colorado woman who was a social worker in Prowers County duting the Dust Bowl. She says “You couldn’t leave your shoes out at night or you had to empty them in the morning.”

After I read Tim Egan’s book, The Worst Hard Times, I wrote a column for the Denver Post about the Dust Bowl and global warming. It’s reprinted here.

The Dust Bowl also left quite an impression on Woody Guthrie. He has a whole album Dust Bowl Ballads available for free download fromFreegal.

Dust Bowl Geek: “So Long It’s Been Good to Know Ya” by Woody Guthrie

Photo: Arthur Rothstein

Ken Burns is turning his camera towards the Dust Bowl, the biggest ecological disaster in the US—so far.

Woody Guthrie turned his music towards the Dust Bowl several years ago. According to Tim Egan, author of The Worst Hard Times, a young Woody Guthrie was sitting in a house waiting out a dust storm when he came up with his song “So Long It’s Been Good to Know Ya.”

Sometimes the dust storms were so bad, people couldn’t see each other across the living room. That’s a lot of dust inside. And they had to be careful not to touch each other. The static built up so much that static shocks were painful.

A whole album Dust Bowl Ballads is available for free download from Freegal.