Monday, November 17, 2014

WARREN ZEVON

Warren Zevon had plenty of influence.  "Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known musicians, including Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young. His best-known compositions include "Werewolves of London", "Lawyers, Guns and Money", "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Johnny Strikes Up the Band", all of which are featured on his third album, Excitable Boy (1978). Other well-known songs written by Zevon have been recorded by other artists, including "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" (a huge hit for Linda Ronstadt), "Accidentally Like a Martyr", "Mohammed's Radio", "Carmelita", and "Hasten Down the Wind."


I loved his song "Werewolves of London" that plays in the movie, American Werewolf in London.  The song was released in 1978 as part of the "Excitable Boy" album.  The movie came out in 1981.  I thought it was much later, say, around 1984.
And then there is Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner."
Another song that got a lot of playing time back in the late 1970s, the favorite time of my life, was Zevon's song "Excitable Boy."

Sunday, November 16, 2014

MOVIES WORTH SHOWING TO STUDENTS
2.  
Eva Marie Saint.  One of my favorite actresses when growing up was Eva Marie Saint.  I loved her look.  I loved her voice.  I loved the empathy in her voice.  I loved her in On the Water Front, 1954, and I loved her in the How the West Was Won, 1977.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

GRACE KELLY
G
Grace Kelly, 1929-1982, certainly was beautiful. I mean she was unattainable, so it is fitting that she was made a princess of Monaco to affirm the fact.

Of course, my all-time favorite movie of hers is Dial M for Murder, 1954, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was a high school teacher who showed his class the movie.  It was stunning.  Hitchcock was very popular in the 60s and 70s.  Another teacher showed 39 Steps, 1935.
BOBBY VAN
O
I totally mistook the dancer in the clip above for Ray Bolger, who played the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, 1939.  But Ray Bolger, having played the Scarecrow in 1939, would have been much older in 1953, a full 14 years after The Wizard of Oz.  Anyway, the dancer's name is Bobby Van, 1928-1980, best known for his musical and dancing careers on Broadway.   . . .
Bobby Van from Small Town Girl, 1953.

Bobby Van hosted Make Me Laugh, a comedy half hour that appeared late at night. Robert Q. Lewis was the original host prior to Bobby Van.  The show was funny.  Interesting to see and hear the references to Nixon in those days and the politically incorrect jokes.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

LOW-KEY, INTRODUCTORY MUSIC FOR VIDEO PROJECTS

. . . from Digital Juice
1.  Adminisphere-full.
2. 

Friday, October 17, 2014

BLACK SABBATH

War Pigs


Generals gathered in their masses,
just like witches at black masses.  

 Evil minds that plot destruction,
sorcerers of death's construction.
In the fields the bodies burning,
as the war machine keeps turning.
Death and hatred to mankind,
poisoning their brainwashed minds...Oh lord yeah!

Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor

Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait `till their judgement day comes, yeah!

Now in darkness, world stops turning,
as you hear the bodies burning.
No more war pigs of the power,
hand of god has struck the hour.
Day of judgement, god is calling,
on their knees the war pigs crawling.
Begging mercy for their sins,
Satan, laughing, spreads his wings...Oh lord, yeah!


This is really the only song of Black Sabbaths that I like.  It is still hard to get beyond the band's name, Black Sabbath, which is a midnight celebration undertaken by witches, demons, and the like.  It was celebrated annually, although medieval practitioners of witchcraft held sabbaths on Candlemas (Christian feast of the presentation of Christ on February 2), Roodmas (feast of the cross on May 3), Lammas (referred to as loaf-mass is the Anglo-Saxon festival of the wheat harvest on August 1), and All Hallows Eve (or Halloween or All Saints Eve, the time in the Christian year dedicated to remembering the dead, martyrs, and saints).

The word sabbath is the Jewish word for "day of rest," so that is innocuous enough.  Wikipedia explains that "The English word "sabbat" is of obscure etymology and late diffusion, and local variations of the name given to witches' gatherings were frequent.[1] "Sabbat" came indirectly from Hebrew שַׁבָּת (Shabbath, "day of rest"). In modern Judaism, Shabbat is the rest day celebrated from Friday evening to Saturday nightfall; in modern Christianity, Sabbath refers to Sunday, or to a time period similar to Shabbat in the seventh-day church minority. In connection with the medieval beliefs in the evil power of witches and in the malevolence of Jews and Judaizing heretics (both being Sabbathkeepers),[2] satanic gatherings of witches were by outsiders called "sabbats", "synagogues", or "convents."



 Sometimes confused with the occasions on which a "black mass" was held


"Heaven and Hell," 1980.  Title track of the "Heaven and Hell" album.  This song is ". . . the first Black Sabbath album to feature vocalist Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010), who replaced original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne (1948-. . .) in 1979."



Sing me a song, you're a singer
Do me a wrong, you're a bringer of evil
The Devil is never a maker
The less that you give, you're a taker
So it's on and on and on
...it's Heaven and Hell, oh well
The lover of life's not a sinner
The ending is just a beginner
The closer you get to the meaning
The sooner you'll know that you're dreaming
So it's on and on and on
Oh it's on and on and on
It goes on and on and on, Heaven and Hell
I can tell, fool, fool!
Well, if it seems to be real, it's illusion
For every moment of truth, there's confusion in life
Love can be seen as the answer
But nobody bleeds for the dancer
And it's on and on, on and on and on....
They say that life's a carousel
Spinning fast, you've got to ride it well
The world is full of Kings and Queens
Who blind your eyes then steal your dreams
...it's Heaven and Hell, oh well
And they'll tell you black is really white
The moon is just the sun at night
And when you walk in golden halls
You get to keep the gold that falls
It's Heaven and Hell
No no fool, fool!
You got to bleed for the dancer!
Fool, fool, look for the answer!
Fool, fool, fool!