Mark Evanier posted this over on his website, and it's terrific -- but I have a little bit to add to it, so I thought I'd post it here, as well. Apparently, some guy recorded a street singer at performing the Otis Redding classic, "Dock of the Bay” and then whenever the videographer traveled around the world, had other street musicians listen to the recording over headphones and perform along, and then edited it all together. When the video began to play, I thought, gee, that location looks very familiar, like the Santa Monica outdoor mall on the Third Street Promenade, but I figured a lot of outdoor malls look the same. But then the initial singer, Roger Ridley, is identified as being in Santa Monica, USA, so I have to figure that's where it is. But also, one of the early musicians, playing drums, is identified as Peter Bunetta in Los Angeles. I know that my longtime pal Patrick Goldstein, who began his career as a music journalist is friends with a fellow from Chicago, Al Bunetta, who moved to Los Angeles. He was the manager of the wonderful Steve Goodman, who I've written about here often. So, I asked Patrick if there was a relation, and if he knew Peter. He wrote back that, indeed, Peter Bunetta is Al's younger brother, and was very involved with a lot of the early recordings in Chicago by Steve Goodman and John Prine. And the record producer Hank Neuberger (another of Patrick's friends) worked with him a lot. I don't suspect that Peter Bunetta is a street musician -- he plays drums here, after all, and I haven't seen many, if any drums street musicians..., and he really isn't feature much in the video, compared to the others -- but my guess is that he might be involved with the organization Playing for Change that put together the video, and his appearance is only a cameo. Or not. But that seems most likely to me. Whatever the background is, the video is a joy.
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Okay, so here then is the latest The Writers Workbench column. You probably know the drill by now -- there's a major amount of work to re-code the article for this pages, so it's just hugely easier to link to thems what have done it already. As a result, you can find the article by clicking here on the Writers Guild website. (It's also on the Huffington Post, but the WGA version includes additional graphics as well as the TWW Notes at the end. This month we look at portable keyboards -- as well as one other completely unrelated item which I bizarrely let slip through the cracks and never included with the column it should have been in. There's an understandable reason for that, which I explain in the piece, but it was still stupid, and I'm glad I finally caught it. Since it's a product I especially like -- perhaps my favorite portable charger, which says a lot, given how much I love portable chargers --I decided to include it here rather than just let it slight. Anyway, as for the keyboards, there's an interesting range here. None are perfect, but several are quite intriguing. And yes, this above is a portable keyboard. Hey, I told you that some are quite intriguing... We're going to have a little Music Man festival here, though not of the one you're used to. Back in 2000, there was the first major revival on Broadway of The Musical Man since the show opened in 1956. There had been major tours, most notably in 1980 with Dick Van Dyke, which I saw and wrote about here, but never a revival on Broadway, at least as far as I know. One theory I've always had was that it was a tough act to follow. Robert Preston's performance as Harold Hill is one of the handful of iconic performances in Broadway history, and it was solidified in the public conscience by him re-creating the role in the Oscar-nominated Best Picture. Probably the only others I can think of that had a similar impact were Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady and Yul Brynner in The King and I. Perhaps Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof, though he didn't get to play the role in the film, so the performance wasn't cemented in the public. But there also was something about Preston's performance that was so largely than life and beloved, and it may have been hard to revive the show on Broadway for that. And also, there may not have been actors who wanted to try. When they did the 2000 revival, they found a pretty good actor to take on the role, Craig Bierko, who was hired with the approval of Renni Willson, the widow of the show's creator Meredith Willson. It seems a terrific choice. For starters, he wasn't a Big Name Star, so he didn't have the reputation of his own career on the line. However, it was a bit of a risk given how little known he was, both on Broadway and in the movies. He'd done some films and TV, most notably starring in the feature Sour Grapes, written and directed by Larry David, though it wasn't terribly successful. Oddly enough, he'd also had a small role in a charming romantic comedy, the very-kismetically named 'Till There Was You, only three years before, in 1997. His film and TV career has subsequently been much more notable afterwards. (Of course, though when Robert Preston created the role he was well-known, largely as a movie heavy in movies, with some stage work, it was a risk hiring him, as well, for a musical comedy -- something he'd never done before.) Most of all, though, it was Bierko's performing quality that leaped out for how it complimented Robert Preston. I was also disappointed not getting to see the revival, but from the cast album, clips and TV appearances, he had a very clear similarity in voice and style to Preston, so audiences weren't "disoriented," yet he had his own interpretation, more bullish than Preston's sly. (And of course I would be remiss if I didn't note he was a graduate of the beloved Northwestern University...) And co-starring as Marian the Librarian was the ethereal Rebecca Luker. A friend who grew up in New York did see the revival -- and she'd seen the original production of The Music Man numerous times and much as she loved Robert Preseton, said she never saw anyone who came close to the original Marian, Barbara Cook -- until she saw Rebecca Luker. The revival did quite well, running for 699 performances, over a year-and-a-half, and receiving eight Tony Award nominations, including Best Revival and nominations for both Bierko and Luker. (He did win the Theatre World Award.) So, it was an accomplished performance and production that's largely lost today, even though only 15 years ago. What I'm going to do here, therefore, for a few days is put together a few clips from the revival that I've been able to find. They include TV performances and some taped live on stage. And to start it off, here's Craig Bierko as Prof. Harold Hill, performing with the Boston Pops Orchestra (conducted by Keith Lockhart, who whimsically inserts himself a bit into things), explaining to the citizens of River City why they have...oh, you know -- "Trouble." Over the weekend, I logged into my Twitter account to find that overnight I'd received a very angry tweet from a conservative who was upset with my HuffPo article written a few weeks ago (and posted here, too) about why Donald Trump (R-Trump Towers) is leading GOP polls.
(The very short version of the article is that the GOP has spent the last seven years, at a minimum, pounding into their party's base that educated people are bad, that science is bad, that faith is what's most important and trust us, that values are what's important, that compromise is bad, and that Washington is terrible and is The Problem so don't trust any of them. And pounded it to the point that a Farleigh-Dickinson study showed that people who watch "Fox News" know less than people who don't even watch any news at all. As a result, many of the base, not all, but enough have been pushed to embrace ignorance and probably don't even know who most of the candidates are and are happy to support the name that they know from television and support the candidates who aren't from Washington). "Pathic [sic] how you group every one together your bias clearly outweighs your education." (I assume he meant "pathetic.") Also, over on his personal Twitter page, he called to arms others to send comments to me in outrage. At the moment, after two days, I haven't yet received any others, but then maybe they were just too outraged to type. Honestly, I completely understand why he was upset -- it was a blunt, critical piece, and if I loved Donald Trump I'd have been upset, too. But then, if I was a Republican, I'd be more upset that Donald Trump was leading GOP polls. If I was a Republican and wanted my party to be seen as thoughtful, serious and the leading voice in politics, I'd be cringing that Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson were the top two leading candidates of my party, with Carly Fiorina not far behind. Three people with literally zero experience in politics in position to lead my political party. Three people whose positions are at best bombastic for attention, and at worst nasty, lying and neanderthal -- all in position to carry my party's banner and lead us over the edge, to crashing defeat, not just for the White House, but across the nation in state and local races for being at the top of the ticket. That's what I'd be furious about, truly "pathetic" and ready to "vomit" (as he said), if I was a Republican. Not shockingly for someone supportive of Donald Trump becoming President of the United States and, I assume, Dr. Ben Carson, the guy also totally mis-read my piece, seeing only what he wanted to, claiming I was bunching everyone together -- when the article is very clear in expressing that I'm talking about parts of groups and percentages of just the Republican base, not the whole Republican Party, but enough to sway things. More to the point, while saying it was "pathetic" how wrong I was, he didn't say why I was wrong. Or why the statistics I quote are wrong. Because...well, I don't think I was. When I quote, among many polls referenced in the piece, that a Farleigh-Dickinson study shows that people who watch Fox News are less-informed than people who don't watch any news at all, that's not me being "biased," that's me being aware of the world around us and being factual. Someone may not like the conclusions I draw, but when those conclusions come from statistics and polls that I quote, and from repeated observations that I reference, the foundation of my opinions can at least be supported. If someone doesn't agree with those conclusions, fine, then tell me why. And bring the facts to contradict me and support what you believe. Alas, my pen pal offered nothing. Only that he wanted to "vomit." Only that I was wrong -- not why I was wrong. Not why my statistics, polls and observations were wrong. But then, I think there's a reason for that -- I don't think they were wrong. Your mileage may vary. But you probably aren't getting very good mileage. This week, the contestant is Mike Miller from New York, NY. I got the hidden song, though only from one passage where it was clear to me. The composer style is in a genre that's always tough for me, and it could have been between four or so. And I took a stab at one. I was wrong, but came pretty close -- I got the right country, period and style, and probably should have gotten it for all my limitations in that area. But alas didn't.
This is a gem of a video. I was going to say "of an Adorable Animal video," but that doesn't do it justice. It's 17 minutes long, but highly worth it. The best way to describe it is that this is a YouTube version of the classic movie, Born Free, but with a baby deer. That's not metaphoric, or even hyperbole. It follows a guy who discovers a baby deer with an injured leg, left by its mother and, though he's against taking in wild animals, he knows the deer will die if he just leaves it. And he documented the whole process. It's not only nicely videoed and well-edited, but he even has a music score. And the tale has three acts, with a nice twist in the middle and a satisfying end. I don't know the fellow's name. He didn't mention it in his post. There's only his log-in name, honeysada. The stories I've seen don't even mention where it's from. It doesn't matter. Take the 17 minutes. Give yourself a treat. |
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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