Month: December 2010

An Intense “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude” for Sir Paul McCartney at the Kennedy Center – Mavis Staples, James Taylor and yes, Steven Tyler…

This is a “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” moment for pop music, if that makes sense to anyone. The performances are dignified, reverential, lovely really, but it’s the deftly chosen response shots from celebrities, each of whom lit up their own artistic or cultural supermoment in the years since the songs were released which project …

Natalie Portman Takes Oscar for Black Swan: Williams and Kowalski Deconstruct that Swan Right Before Your Eyes

The Parallel Convergence Zone Mike and Jeff work together and have discovered a mutual fascination with old television series, B-movies, bizarre personal experiences, brushes with fame and peculiar characters they’ve met along the way. Here, they have undertaken to provide the following tandem media review for your reading pleasure: BLACK SWAN By Jeff Williams The …

Portland May be a Paradise for Music Lovers, but Struggling Musicians: Beware, by Dr. David Wakeling, Celebrity Guest Blogger

In the greater Portland area there are 160 music venues, give or take a few, that will feature live music on any given night, many featuring music everyday of the week. It really is a music lover’s paradise. Reggae, punk, indie, alt, rock, you name it, Portland has got it. Having lived in or around …

Garbage – The Trick is to Keep Breathing, by Lorelei Carlson, Celebrity Guest Blogger

. “The Trick is to Keep Breathing” is magical. The perfect combination of trip hop and alternative rock. Shirley Manson’s voice is wispy and vulnerable, complementing the song’s simple message, “the trick is to keep breathing”. Released in 1999, it’s production was ahead of it’s time. Not to mention the ambient feel is quite thought-inducing …

BoingBoing.net Lights Up Internet Connectivity With Fresh, Clever and Sometimes Outrageous Content, by Randy Rendfeld

While browsing Boing Boing (boingboing.net) last week, I ran into this blog entry: “The Dream of the 90s is Alive in Portland” — a hymn to one of America’s greatest towns — “where zines, slacking, good coffee, social consciousness, public transit and all the other sweet fantasies of the 90s are still alive.” It features …

Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium Sung By the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers, by Peter Dysart

Of all the great choral works of Christmas, the many compositions of “O Magnum Mysterium” including those by Poulenc and Victoria stand apart in their power and beauty. But Morten Lauridsen’s more recent composition of “O Magnum Mysterium” has an inner emotional strength and beauty that I’ve seldom experienced in sacred music. This is a …

Will Progressives Treat BHO Better than Conservatives Treated GHWB?, by Lawrence Spaulding

So much gets presented as a challenge to President Obama, but his leadership style really asks more of his base and the American people: patience, a sense of history, an understanding of the modest limits of politics and our governing institutions. Obama seems to have these—do we? – Lawrence Spaulding Now, doesn’t that feel better? …

Keith Emerson composing Endless Enigma from Trilogy – Revisiting Prog Rock Musicianship, by Steve Gans, Celebrity Guest Blogger

Kayne West’s sampling of King Crimson’s 21st Century Schizoid Man on his most recent album not withstanding, it’s generally not too hip nowadays to pay homage to the icons of early 70’s progressive rock. This brief clip is of one of my adolescent musical heroes, Keith Emerson, working out some piano parts from Emerson Lake …

Pink Martini – Do You Hear What I Hear? – And on TV and Radio, from Randy Rendfeld

It’s the holidays, and that means it’s time for Pink Martini. Randy Rendfeld sent me several excellent links to Pink Martini material, past and present: The Pinksters performed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno Monday, 12/20/2010. Just two days earlier (12/18/2010), Thomas (Lauderdale), China (Forbes) and the gang brought their rollicking genre-bending orchestra to …