Bob Uecker has passed away and the Late Show has done its usual thing of releasing a video for them.
This one begins with Norm MacDonald telling a Bob Uecker story. I have no idea what is bleeped.
If Thurston Howell III were alive, he'd hang out here.
Bob Uecker has passed away and the Late Show has done its usual thing of releasing a video for them.
This one begins with Norm MacDonald telling a Bob Uecker story. I have no idea what is bleeped.
Revisiting Arcade Fire's performance of "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)" on Conan. Of all the musical performances on Conan's "Late Night," this is my #2 all-time*. Perhaps I'm too easily impressed by chaotic percussionists and cute violinists. You decide.
Having loved this version, I listened to, and was disappointed by, the album version. The main key is this version's Talking Heads style vocals vs. the album version's distant bullhorn vocals. Plus, this has the live energy. The good news though is that the rest of the album is superb.
In 1957 the Russian space program launched a stray dog into space with no possibility of return. The dog's name was Laika.
* - In case you're interested, #1 was posted 8 years ago.
First a summary of events from the Yacht or Nyacht Podcast(s) and then a personal anecdote.
On the Beyond Yacht Rock Podcast, Episode 99, they're listening to audience suggestions to determine, officially, whether the song is Yacht Rock. The suggestion is "Can't Stop Runnin'" by Roby Duke (above). The deck is stacked against it. They are decidedly anti-Christian and isn't Christian rock always lame? To top it off, the cover of the album, a photo of Roby himself, looks like this:
Rock Star. |
And now a personal anecdote.
When I was a young teen, this one singer would sometimes visit my church to do concerts and/or lead the music in the service. I always especially enjoyed when he would make an appearance because he had such a relaxed, casual, somewhat goofy style. He was constantly talking, telling stories and making jokes, even at the expense of the music, if need be. He was like 60% singer with an acoustic guitar, 30% storyteller and 10% stand-up comedian. And when you're a kid in church, that's a really great break from the norm. The singer was Roby Duke.
The thing was, every time I saw him it was pretty much him with an acoustic guitar; he may have had a backing track sometimes but it was never a full band. Furthermore, I only saw him in church, I never investigated any of his albums. So how shocking it was to find that a small Yacht Rock podcast is listening to the "unknown acoustic guitar guy." And how much more shocking to find that he was not just a Yacht Rock artist all along but actually a Yacht Rock legend. Mind blowing.
Roby Duke's albums today are rare and seem to fetch hefty prices; some are apparently being imported from Japan. I learn from the internet that Roby Duke died in 2007. RIP.
It's a little Journey, come on.
While this is one of my favorite Journey songs (perhaps #2), I really hate the music video. It's part of a genre of music videos from the late 80s and early 90s about the dreariness of touring which was so repetitive as to become monotonous. Sitting on the tour bus, getting on and off of planes, occasional black and white footage, roadies hauling equipment - oh being a rock star is drudgery - isn't living the dream a nightmare?
I haven't been able to define the genre sufficiently because I never gave it a name and didn't collect enough examples. Motley Crue "Home Sweet Home" and Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead or Alive" both flirt with the genre but don't ultimately succumb to it. The genre-defining examples I had were Journey "Faithfully" and Genesis "Throwing It All Away." I think there are a million examples out there but I needed to do more research and never got around to it.
Oh, and I think my thoughts are independent here but just in case, the Beyond Yacht Rock Podcast has an episode that defines the genre "This Was Supposed to be Fun" which is songs about the difficulties of touring. But they're talking about a type of song and I was thinking of a type of music video.
The thumbnail for "The Hunt for Red October" on youtube is blue. Who are the ad wizards who came up with that one?