The guest contestant on this week's comedy-news quiz from NPR Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! was supposed to be Lena Dunham, but alas she had to cancel. Instead, host Peter Sagal had to get a last-minute fill-in contestant, a fellow by the name of Stephen Colbert! Making the "Not My Job" segment all the more fun -- because his appearance was last-minute -- is that all of the questions that Peter Sagal asks Colbert are ones which were intended for Ms. Dunham. But I don't mean just all the quiz questions, which always have a them centered around the guest ...but all the questions, including for the interview portion!
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One of the more intriguing parts of the story of the musical group The Seekers is that when they celebrated their 50th anniversary by reuniting and having a tour, mid-way through they had to cancel it because lead singer Judith Durham had a critical illness, a brain hemorrhage. As one might image, it was profoundly serious, and she was in a coma for a while. When she regained consciousness, there were still many issues to be dealt with, including her having short-term memory loss, needing to be retrained to write, and the question of if she was able to sing. With a good deal of therapy, she did recover and was able to sing -- but more than that, the group committed to returning to their Golden Jubilee tour only a year later, and performed two concerts at Royal Albert Hall, in 2014. And I have that concert here. It's broken up into seven segment, and I won't post them all here, just the first and last one. But I'll include the links to them all, for those interested in seeing it all. The visual quality isn't great, but it's mostly very watchable. For reasons I don't fully understand, there are sections where the video stops and is replaced for short periods by still photographs of the concert. But then the video starts up again. This opening section is particularly good. It includes a new music video they did of the Beatles song "In My Life" (they performed with the Beatles during their '50s hey-day),and dthen goes into their biggest hit, "I’ll Never Find Another You." Following that number, there is a lovely, low-key but very touching expression of appreciation by bass player Athol Guy (I believe that's who's speaking, since this is one of the points where the video cuts out), that's not just for the overwhelming response from the audience, but in quiet reference to Judith Durham being there at all. (The group's affection for her shines through when he says, "It’s just such a joy to with you all here tonight.. Especially with this little miracle right here.") And this segment also includes another of their three very big hits in the U.S., "A World of Our Own." As you can see, they are in fine voice after 50 years. But most impressively, so is 72-year-old Judith Durham just one year after being in a coma with a brain hemorrhage. And then I'll jump to the final section of the concert because...well, it's the finale. At the 3:00 mark,Judith Durham speaks movingly about the help and support she received from the others in recovering from her illness and just getting her there on stage, along with the support from the fans. And that's followed by probably their most-beloved hit, "Georgy Girl." Their finale is touching with a roaring response from the audience, after which they return to finish with their traditional closing number, "The Carnival is Over." As I said, there are seven sections to the full concert, and for thems what are interested in seeing it all, here are the links to everything -- Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven This week's contestants are Peter and Mary-Bess Staffel from Bethany, West Virginia. This is an oddity: although I got both parts, it was touch-and-go that I would. I could tell the composer of the hidden song right away, but it took me a short while to "sing through" the song to get the title, but I did get it. It's well known, but might not be so for everyone. And the composer style was very guessable...but...it came down to two possibilities who overlap a bit. But I guessed right.
In this edition of the 3rd & Fairfax podcast from the Wrtiers Guild of America, we have an interview with Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, showrunners of the HBO series, Westworld. There's a brief bit of housecleaning upfront, but you can jump to the interview at the 8:15 mark.
I mentioned yesterday that I have a bunch more videos of The Seekers that I've held off posting,m since I went on a Seekers jag a while back. What with yesterday's piece about the new Australia musical about the group (which looks poorly done, but with great music...), I figured this would be a good time to post a few of them. What's stunning about The Seekers is that even though they broke up in 1968 after about five years of great success -- most especially in Australia and the U.K., though with three big hits in the U.S. -- is that they've continued to get together for FIFTY YEARS, usually timed for some big anniversary, though not always.. Often, when group reunite after decades, while there might be enjoyment in seeing them, it's sometimes a little uncomfortable, as it appears they're trying to recapture another time that's long gone. But for all the videos I've seen of The Seekers, I don't get that sense. And I don't think it's just my perception, in that it shows by the fact that they have these periodic tours, not just a brief gathering. I'm not quite sure why this is with The Seekers, that they've remained as popular and beloved as they have (particularly in Australia, and also in the U.K.), but I can't think of at least two reasons. One is that their acoustic music wasn't as firmly grounded in A Time, and while it isn't a popular music of today, it's not especially dated, but more of a traditional sensibility. The other reason is simpler -- lead singer Judith Durham has a unique sound to her voice that remains soaring.. This is a video from as recently as 2010 when they were preparing a brief tour and appeared on an Australian morning talk show, singing what is probably their biggest hit, "I'll Never Find Another You." (I think that "Georgy Girl" is probably their most iconic song, and the one that people most-affectionately identify them with, but I believe that this was their most-successful song.) As you'll see, Judith Durham and "the boys" are still in very fine voice. And, oh, by the way, I adore Judith Durham. I know there's a long line ahead of me... I wrote too soon. Either that, or it was prescient to write earlier this morning.
The White House today is denying a story about how it is exploring the use of the National Guard for deportation. Not only are they denying it, but strongly, 100% inaccurate. This today is the problem with their denials about anything now -- what Peter Alexander was getting to only yesterday about trust. That because of their relentless use of "alternative facts" on things like fake illegal voting and fake crowd sizes and fake insistence that the Trump Electoral vote margin is the biggest, and more -- all demonstrably and easily provable wrong -- the administration has already after just three weeks lost all credibility to those in the fact-based world. (Even to the extent of simply coming up with the phrase "alternative facts" as a explanation for lying.) At this point, because of their track record -- going back to Trump's repeated insistence that he never told Howard Stern that he was for the Iraq War, even though it's on tape for all to hear and more, things that extend far beyond political falsehood and instead enter the land of pathological -- even an emphatic White House denial is no enough. They have painted themselves into a corner where the burden is now on them to prove their denials. All of which relates back to my earlier article this morning, written before the subsequent denials, about NBC reporter Peter Alexander yesterday confronting Trump with easy, basic, gradeschool facts facts that refute wildly-wrong statements with the question, "Why should Americans trust you?" |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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